President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday unveiled the redesigned N200, N500 and N1,000 naira notes in Abuja.
A former lawmaker representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District, Shehu Sani, has made a mockery of the newly redesigned naira notes spearheaded by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday unveiled the redesigned N200, N500 and N1,000 naira notes in Abuja.
The CBN on October 26 announced its plan to redesign N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes of the Nigerian naira, giving December 15, 2022, as the date for the circulation of the new notes and January 31, 2023, as the deadline for the use of the old naira notes.
The CBN’s decision generated nationwide criticism but despite the widespread criticism, President Buhari insisted that the naira notes had to be redesigned, saying that the reasons given by the CBN convinced him that the economy stood to benefit from it through the reduction in inflation, currency counterfeiting and the excess cash in circulation.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, faulted the CBN’s decision to redesign the naira notes, noting that there will be “consequences”.
“There will be some benefits but there will be some challenges,” she had said.
Reacting to the new naira notes, Sani, a senator in the 8th Assembly, said that if the CBN had known that the redesign was all about the colour, it should have contacted Snapchat, an American multimedia instant messaging app, to do it.
He questioned the benefit it will have for Nigerians to have the colours of the notes changed while the currency still loses its value.
“If it’s Naira colour, the CBN should have just engaged Snapchat. What shall it profit a Naira if it can get a whole new colour and still lose its value,” Sani said.
If it’s Naira colour,the CBN should have just engage Snapchat.
— Senator Shehu Sani (@ShehuSani) November 23, 2022
Reacting to Senator Sani’s comments on the new naira notes, the Special Assistant on Digital Communications to President Buhari, Bashir Ahmad, said, “As a former ‘Dist. Senator, one may expect you to know that redesigning banknotes is not only about designing; it helps to achieve security improvement of the banknotes, mitigating counterfeiting and controlling currency in circulation, among others.”
But Senator Sani, in his response to Ahmad, said, “My Brother Honorable Bashir, you should have helped our traditional tie and dye experts in Kano get this colouring job.”