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• Old banknotes should be allowed to phase out over time, Adi insists
• Experts say currency redesign has no economic relevance
Images of the new N200, N500 and N1000 notes dominated the social media, yesterday, 29 days after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) unveiled timelines of the currency redesign.
Nigerians had opportunity to see the new banknotes after they were unveiled by President Muhammadu Buhari during the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The unveiling came three weeks ahead of December 15 earlier scheduled for its release, just as calls for extension of the deadline intensify.
Expressing delight that the redesigned currencies are printed by the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting (NSPM) locally, President Buhari said features of the new notes would make them difficult to forge.
At the unveiling, which preceded FEC meeting, the President defended his approval for the exercise, saying: ‘’The new banknotes will help the apex bank design and implement better monetary policy objectives.”
He commended the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele and his team, as well as NSPM “for working tirelessly to make the currency redesign a reality and for printing the new naira notes within a comparatively short time.”
Acknowledging that international best practice requires central banks and national authorities to issue new or redesigned currency notes every five to eight years, the President noted that it was almost 20 years since the last major redesign of the country’s local currency was done.