CBN: Naira redesign policy to reduce unbanked population, tackle insecurity

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says the naira redesign policy is to promote financial inclusion and aid security agencies’ efforts in tackling insecurity.

Speaking on Saturday at the 44th Kaduna international trade fair. Osita Nwasinobi, the spokesperson of the CBN, urged Nigerians to embrace alternative payment channels such as eNaira and internet banking. 

Nwasinobi, represented by Mohammed Abbah, director of capacity development, said Godwin Emefiele, the CBN governor, had always emphasised that the redesign of the naira notes was “not targeted at anyone or any group of persons”. 

“The principal aim of the bank, with the currency redesign initiative, is to make our monetary policy decisions more efficacious,” he said.

“Nigerians will observe that there has been a downward trend in inflation and the exchange rates have been relatively stable.

“Furthermore, we aim to increase financial inclusion in the country by reducing the number of the unbanked population. 

“Thirdly, our aim is to support the efforts of our security agencies in combating banditry and ransom-taking in Nigeria through this programme.

“The CBN is not unmindful of the challenges some citizens have had to face in the past few weeks in efforts to get money from their banks or other alternative channels. 

“Indeed, there have been reports of occasional transaction failures. However, we wish to assure you that the Nigerian payment system infrastructure is robust enough to handle the surging transaction volumes across all channels.”

He added that the benefits of the currency redesign are enormous and will benefit the economy in the long run.

Meanwhile, although the CBN deadline elapsed on February 10, the federal government said it would obey the supreme court order restraining the apex bank from banning the use of old naira notes till February 15.