The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it will launch the redesigned notes of the country’s currency by December 2022. This development was revealed by the Apex bank Governor Godwin Emefiele in a press briefing recently.
The redesign will affect the ₦200, ₦500, and ₦1000 notes, and will be in circulation by 15 December 2022, while the current note will no longer be a legal tender from 31, January 2023.
According to CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele, the purpose of this exercise is to reduce the inordinate amount of cash outside the control of banks and currency counterfeiting.
“Recent development in photographic technology and advancements in printing devices have made counterfeiting relatively easier,” Emefiele said. “In recent years, the CBN has recorded significantly higher rates of counterfeiting especially at the higher denominations of ₦500 and ₦1,000 banknotes.”
“Although global best practice is for central banks to redesign, produce and circulate new local legal tender every 5–8 years, the Naira has not been redesigned in the last 20 years.”
Emefiele shared that as of September 2022, there was ₦3.2 trillion in circulation within Nigeria, of which ₦2.73 trillion was outside the vaults of the banks.
“This trend of lots of money out of the bank vault is unacceptable, we want to have a firm grip on the money supply in Nigeria,” he said.
Emefiele noted that individuals with cash at hand can begin depositing their monies into their bank accounts from Thursday, October 27, 2022, at no cost ahead of the disbursement of the new notes giving them 100 days to swap old notes for the redesigned notes.