NIGERIANS SHOULD EXPECT NEW NAIRA NOTES

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has
said that Nigerians should expect a new
generation of naira notes before the
second quarter of 2014.
Deputy Governor, Operations, Mr Tunde
Lemo, said the apex bank had earlier
announced its decision to move the
local currency from polymer back to
paper, but disclosed that all the notes in
circulation would not be withdrawn at
the same time.
“Nigerians will be having new generation
notes in paper in the next few months.
We will wait until the notes wear tear.
When they wear, and they travel back to
Central Bank, of course they will be re-
issued,” he stated.
According to him, the life cycle of a note
in Nigeria is between six months and a
year and if CBN took that decision six
months ago, “I reckon that in the next
three to six months, you will begin to
see these denominations re-appear in
paper.”
He said that, the Central Bank would
have started producing the lower
denomination notes in paper by the
middle of last year, but due to logistics
challenges, the plan was not
accomplished.
“My plea is that Nigerians should be
patient with us. It wasn’t the fault of
the CBN; it is just because we have to
go back to the drawing board. We will
correct that in the course of the year.
Polymer certainly will be phased out. In
fact, no new note is being printed in
polymer now,” said Lemo.
On the scarcity of the lower
denomination notes, Lemo blamed
inflation and commercial banks for what
he called “low transactionary value” and
“poor circulation,” respectively.
“For the lower denomination, well, I
think the banks are really the ones that
are really not allowing the lower
denomination in circulation, largely,
because of the cost and carrying value.
“Most people don’t require small
denomination. But for buying things in
the market, if you look at the veracity,
you find out that it is the people that
are losing interest because of its
bulkiness and inflation,” he said.