Naira redesign was authorised by President Buhari, CBN informs the finance minister.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has responded to the allegation made by Zainab Ahmad, the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, that her ministry was not told of the redesign of the N200, N500, and N1,000 denominations of the nation's currencies carried out by the CBN.

Recall that on Tuesday, October 25, CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele declared that the apex bank had received the president's consent to redesign certain naira notes.

However, Ms. Zainab asserted that the CBN neglected to engage her ministry on the proposed redesign of the denominations while defending her ministry's 2023 budget before the Senate Committee on Finance in Abuja on Friday, October 28.

We were not consulted. It was an announcement that we heard and there are also consequences. We are also looking at what the consequences will be. There will be some benefits but there are some challenges. I don’t know if the monetary authorities have looked very closely at what the consequences are and how they can be mitigated.

Osita Nwanisobi, the CBN spokeswoman, emphasised that the apex bank followed due process in its policy decisions in response to Ahmad's statement.

In accordance with section 2(b), section 18(a), and section 19(a)(b) of the CBN Act 2007, he claimed that the CBN administration had lawfully requested and received President Muhammadu Buhari's written consent to redesign, produce, release, and circulate new series of N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes.

The management of the CBN, in line with provisions of section 2(b), section 18(a), and section 19(a)(b) of the CBN Act 2007, had duly sought and obtained the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari in writing to redesign, produce, release and circulate new series of N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes'' he said

The integrity of the currency, the CBN, and the nation have all been threatened, according to Nwanisobi, because of the country's currency management's rising problems. The integrity of the local legal tender, the effectiveness of its supply, and its effectiveness in the conduct of monetary policy were all protected by every top-notch central bank. Regarding the timeframe of the redesign project, Nwanisobi stated that the CBN had waited 20 years too long.

The standard practice globally was for central banks to redesign, produce and circulate new local legal tender every five to eight years.”he said

While reassuring Nigerians that the currency redesign exercise was solely a central banking exercise and not targeted at any group, the CBN spokesman expressed optimism that the effort will, among other goals, deepen Nigeria's push to entrench a cashless economy in the face of increased minting of the eNaira.

This, he claimed, in addition to assisting in the reduction of terrorist and abduction situations, was made possible by people's access to the significant amount of money kept outside the banking system and utilised as a source of funding for ransom payments.