The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that the central bank is unable to print enough new naira notes, despite the nation’s cash crisis and Nigerians’ hope that President Muhammadu Buhari will resolve it as promised in seven days.
Emefiele made this known, according to a source who was present at the emergency meeting of the National Council of State on Friday. Mr. Emefiele claims that the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc (The Mint) is unable to produce enough new notes to replace the worn-out N200, N500, and N1,000 notes due to capacity difficulties.
Hear him: “Paper for printing the N500 and N1,000 notes has ran out at the Mint. We have placed orders with a German company and De La Rue in the UK for papers to print new naira. However, their orders can no longer be filled because they have been added to a large waiting list”.
Despite receiving the CBN’s request to create 70 million copies of the new notes totaling N126 billion to be put into circulation by today (yesterday), a source informed Premium Times, “The Mint does not have the capacity.”
According to the source, “Buhari seemed noncommittal at the meeting and didn’t say anything.” As the time for the Muslim prayer known as Jummah arrived, he exited the conference, and his deputy, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, took over. The president, according to Osinbajo, will make a choice.
The new and old naira notes have remained elusive seven days after President Muhammadu Buhari promised to ease the nation’s cash shortfall created by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) currency redesign and old notes swap plan, according to Daily Trust Saturday.
The new notes, which have a deadline of January 31, 2023, were adopted by the CBN, which is led by Godwin Emefiele, as part of attempts to combat corruption, terrorism, counterfeiting, and other crimes.
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