Some Nigerians interviewed by the international media platform, CNN, are not happy with the newly re-designed bank notes set to come into full effect on January 31 2023.
Unveiled by President Muhammadu Buhari in late November 2022, the new notes are meant to deal with counterfeiting and hoarding of large sums outside the banking system.
The new notes are also expected to cut off access to the money used by kidnap-for-ransom gangs which are thought to be reliant on the cash outside the banking system.
The federal governments say they want to (REDESIGN) the naira note. Is this redesign or just a colour change? pic.twitter.com/5PNgCNJkZp
— Engr.Wale Fatusi PMP (@Realfatusi) November 23, 2022
However, the locals captured by CNN do not see any significant difference between the new notes and the old one, describing the supposedly re-designed banknotes as a mere color revamp.
“Snapchat filter, waste of time and resources, so a whole CBN cannot employ experts to re-design the naira notes. This is a revamp not a redesign,” one person was quoted as saying.
“What a waste of time and resources … what is the difference?” asked another.
The people do not expect the new notes to rescue the value of the Nigerian Naira which traded at nearly 800 to the US dollar as of November 24, 2022 CNN said.
A top economist, Bismarck Rewane, is among those who do not expect the new notes to solve counterfeiting nor economic challenges.
“It doesn’t change anything, It doesn’t increase the value. There was no re-design. The color of the currency changed that’s all. The change is not significant enough to stop counterfeiting,” Rewane told CNN.
At the unveiling ceremony in November 2022, Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said N2.73 trillion ($4.9 billion) out of the N3.23 trillion ($5.7 billion) in circulation exists outside the vault of the commercial banks, and the new strategy will help to mop out the excess.
“Evidently, currency in circulation has more than doubled since 2015, rising from N1.46 trillion ($2.6 billion) in December 2015 to N3.23 trillion ($5.7 billion) as of September 2022,” said Emefiele.
He told journalists that authorities would intensify monitoring of the new bills and put a restriction on the volume of cash that can be withdrawn over the counter.
According to President Buhari, the new Naira banknotes have also been fortified with security features that make them difficult to counterfeit.
The new bills will be in circulation along with the old ones until January 31, 2023, when the old notes cease to be legal tender.
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