| The re-designed naira notes and coins are to go into circulation as from Wednesday (today) following the formal inauguration by President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abuja..
L-R: Managing Editor, Emerging Markets, Mr. Will Goodhart, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Charles Soludo; and Minister of Finance, Mrs. Nenadi Usman, at the presentation of the Best Central Bank Governor in Africa award to Soludo, in Singapore � on Tuesday
The new notes, in denominations of N5, N10, N20 and N50 as well as the 50kobo, N1 and the newly introduced N2 coins, are part of the long-overdue currency reforms being implemented by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The reforms are aimed at the re-introduction of coins into circulation to ensure the completeness of the nation�s currency structure. The coinage reform, in particular, is to stem the practice of rounding up, which has an inflationary effect in retail prices.
Already, commercial banks have been issued with the new currency notes and they would be used to pay customers as from today.
Banks have been instructed to set up dedicated teller points for the issuance of the new currency notes
The Governor of the CBN, Prof Chukwuma Soludo had said earlier that �banks will be given adequate supply of the new money, but people should be ready to accept them.�
The CBN governor noted that the re-designed N5, N10, N20 and N50 notes were printed on durable material.
The N20 note is printed on polymer, which is resistant to wear, on an experimental basis and other currency notes could be printed with the same material, if the apex bank is satisfied with the outcome of post-issue durability surveys.
The other new notes are printed on varnished paper.
Soludo said that the coins were light and user-friendly, and that at least two per cent of all withdrawals from banks would be in coins.
He also listed some of the advantages of the new notes over the old to include lower cost of production and enhanced security features, which would make them difficult to fake.
The new notes do not carry the naira sign, are a bit smaller and are embossed with geometric shapes to help the visually impaired identify them.
Also, the values of the notes are inscribed on the surface in the three main Nigerian languages � Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba, which the CBN said was to promote literacy and unity among Nigerians.
For the first time also, the new N50 note carries the portrait of a female, the late potter, Ladi Kwali. Traditionally, naira notes carried portraits of notable political and government figures.
However, the Arabic inscriptions popularly called Ajami in Hausa have been removed. This has caused some disaffection among some Muslim groups in the north.
However, Soludo said the decision to remove the Ajami inscription was not an attempt to deny any people their rights but to provide space for the inscription of the face value in Nigerian languages on the notes. |
