Confusion As Nigerian Finance Minister Disagrees With CBN Over Naira Redesigning

The plan by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to redesign the Naira is enmeshed in confusion as the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, disowned the policy statement yesterday.

The Minister said she and her ministry were not aware of the policy but only heard of it in the media.

She said yesterday that she would not comment on it “as regards merits or otherwise” because her ministry was not consulted by the CBN.

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele had on Wednesday said that the apex bank would redesign the country’s currency from N200 denomination to N1,000 notes.

He said that the action was taken in order to take control of the currency in circulation just as he insisted that the bulk of the nation’s currency notes were outside banking operations, adding that the CBN would not allow the situation to continue.

The planned policy, he added, was in line with Sections 19 subsections A and B of the CBN Act 2007, upon which the management of the CBN sought and obtained the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari to redesign, produce, and circulate new series of banknotes at N200, N500, and N1,000 notes.

Some economic experts have frowned at the decision of the CBN, describing it as a misplaced and outrageous idea.

-TheNation