Jonathan unveils new N100 ‘centenary note’

President Goodluck Jonathan has unveiled the commemorative N100 banknote at the presidential villa, Abuja.

The ceremony was earlier scheduled for last Wednesday but was postponed because of the president’s trip to Burkina Faso.

Vice-President Namadi Sambo and Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), joined the president to unveil the note during the weekly federal executive council meeting.

Emefiele said the note was issued to commemorate 100 years of the nation’s amalgamation.

He said countries like Morocco, Russia and Costa Rica had also issued currencies to commemorative significant events in their national history.

The CBN governor, who said the new note was produced with the most advanced security features in the world, said the note was designed with security, durability, attractiveness, cultural heritage and transformation in mind.

Jonathan commended the CBN for issuing the commemorative note, although it came after the nation had concluded centenary celebrations.

He recalled that commemorative N50 notes were also introduced to mark the nation’s 50th independence anniversary.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, minister of finance, also commended the CBN for coming up with the notes.

She lauded the QRC feature on the note, which, if scanned with smartphones, takes users to a website where they could access the nation’s history.

The minister also raised questions on the cost of printing the new notes and whether it would be done locally.

However, the president said the questions would be answered when a memorandum on the issue is presented to the council.