THE Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has explained why it would be difficult to produce counterfeits of the newly redesigned naira notes.
Emefiele spoke today at the official unveiling of the newly redesigned currency notes of N200, N500 and N1000 notes by President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
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He declared that stiff measures would be in place to monitor volume of cash withdrawals at the counter, as there would be periodic redesigning every five to eight years to check influx of counterfeit notes.
“The CBN will intensify the monitoring process and interrogate the process of withdrawals of the new notes,” Emefiele said.
He stressed that the apex bank would work closely with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to track purposes of heavy withdrawals.
The unveiling today marked the first time in 19 years that Nigeria would be redesigning its currency notes.
At a briefing after the unveiling ceremony before the Federal Executive Council meeting, the CBN governor debunked the insinuation that the early unveiling of new notes was targeted at some Nigerians.
The redesigned notes have a strong feature of a ‘bleached’ currency with strong durability, and other security features that make them slightly different from the rested ones.
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.