The Central Bank of Nigeria has reacted to widespread criticism about the new naira notes being only redesigned in colour, in a statement saying that the change of ink “is in itself a security feature.”
The CBN authorities had also claimed that the apex bank had no time to execute a broad redesign, claiming that it had only planned to tackle an identified problem.
Ahmed Umar, the CBN’s Director of Currency Operations, disclosed this at a three-day workshop organised by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, NDIC.
Umar, represented by the Head of Policy Development Division, Currency Operations Department of the apex bank, Amina Halidu-Giwa, had remarked that the redesigned N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes had only appeared “simple” because the bank had limited timeframe to redesign them.
The Director also added that the central bank had no plan to introduce N5,000 notes as is being speculated.