CBN unveils new currency

September.  Deputy Governor, Operations, Dr Tunde Lemo, who revealed this in Abuja, stated that the public would get a large quantity of the new notes to replace the old and mutilated notes.

The apex bank had earlier said that new naira notes would be in circulation by June, and that the smaller denomination notes (N5, N10, N20, and N50) would be reprinted on paper.
“We are going to take delivery of the new notes from this month of August. We will take delivery of the new notes before the end of September. The public will get a large quantity of the new notes to replace the old and mutilated notes, particularly the higher denomination notes in the first instance, then later the lower denominations,’’ he said.

On the scarcity of the lower denomination notes, Lemo blamed commercial banks for what he called “poor circulation’’.
“For the lower denomination; well, I think the banks are really the ones that are really not allowing the lower denomination in circulation, largely, because of the carrying value.
“Most people don’t require small denomination. But for buying things in the market, if you look at the veracity, you find out that the N50 circulate more than the smaller ones,’’ he said.
Lemo has urged law enforcement agencies to arrest all illegal hawkers of new naira notes.
He also called on commercial banks to keep watchful eyes on their staff to avoid being used as conduit for illegal transfer of new notes to unauthorised hands.
Lemo said this should be done to ensure effective protection of the currency from abuse.

Meanwhile, CBN Director of Communications, Ugo Okoroafor, while explaining the situation recently, acknowledged the shortage of the lower denominations in the system but said the situation has improved.

This is as banking industry sources insist that the scarcity of lower denominations may not be unconnected with the government’s suspension of the introduction of N5,000 note, which would have also ensured that lower denominations are minted to replace old ones.

“We (CBN) do not want to talk so that it would not be like we are forcing the Federal Government to reverse the suspension. But the scarcity cannot be far from the suspension of the N5,000 note proposal last year,” he said.

Beside their non-availability, six years after their introduction by the CBN, the public has almost lost interest in monetary transactions involving the exchange of N5, N10, N20, and N50 polymer notes