President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria on Wednesday unveiled the redesigned new Naira currency notes for the country and said it will help fight corruption.
The redesigned notes he presented to the public are the N1000, N500 and N200 — the country’s highest currency denominations.
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, was in attendance during the unveiling ceremony.
Also present at the ceremony were Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation, Ibrahim Gambari, chief of staff to the president, and Folashade Yemi-Esan, head of civil service of the federation.
Speaking during unveiling, Buhari underscored the importance of redesigning the naira notes, saying it will help the country to address the issue of illicit financial flows, corruption, improve the economy and the value of the Nigerian currency.
Buhari said the first set of the currency, which was printed locally by the Nigeria Printing and Minting Company, will prevent counterfeiting of the notes.
He, however, appealed to Nigerians to embrace the new policy to redesign the naira.
He noted that the currency redesign will also help the CBN’s monetary policy initiatives.
Probably to sustain an element of surprise which was at displace when the announcement of introduction of new Naira noted was made in October 26, Emefiele had on Tuesday said the apex bank will no longer wait till December 15, to ” unveil and release the new notes.
Emefiele said the introduction of new notes was a deliberate step by government to check corruption and counterfeiting of the notes.
He added that, the naira notes currently in use will remain as legal tender till January 31, 2023.
Nigeria last redesigned it’s currency notes in 1984 under Major General Muhammadu Buhari as military head of State.