On October 26, 2022, Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), announced that the country’s apex bank would be redesigning the N200, N500 and N1,000 notes.
Emefiele said the move became imperative because the country needed to improve on its currencies’ security and features, mitigate counterfeiting, preserve the collective national heritage, control the banknotes in circulation and reduce the overall cost of currency management.
It also stressed that the exercise was long overdue as international best practice required central banks all around the world to redesign banknotes every five to eight years.
The CBN also noted that the new banknotes would start circulating from December 15, 2022, and that the old notes would cease to have value on January 31, 2023.
The Newly Redesigned Currencies
However, since deposition began, Nigerians have continued to encounter challenges in their bid to have access to funds.
Nigeria’s cash-dependent informal economy and ordinary citizens have had to scramble for the new notes and this has led to violent protests in some parts of the country.
After several “conceited” statements by the CBN governor, the apex bank eventually decided to extend the deadline to February 10.
On Friday, Muhammadu Buhari, President of Nigeria, asked the entire nation to give him seven days to find a lasting solution to the cash shortage crisis.
Before the last, Nigeria had made changes to its banknotes 14 times since gaining independence in 1960, and none of the changes was this controversial and inconveniencing. Here is the story:
1962
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