Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, voiced her objections to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s redesign of some naira notes.
The CBN stated on Wednesday that the newly redesigned N100, N200, N500, and N1000 notes would go into circulation on December 15.
The move, according to CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele, was made to combat terrorism financing and public hoarding of banknotes because figures showed that over 85 per cent of the currency in circulation was not stored in commercial banks’ vaults.
But on Friday, Ahmed, claimed that her ministry was not contacted before the CBN’s decision and cautioned that the new strategy may have negative effects on the naira’s exchange rate with other currencies.
During the 2023 budget defense session, the minister spoke in response to inquiries from the Senate Committee on Finance.
Just two days after the CBN announced its new policy, Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti), said that its impacts on the value of the naira relative to the US dollar were already being felt.
He said, “Just two days after the announcement of the policy, value of Naira to a US dollar has risen from N740 to N788 to a US dollar due to rush in exchange of starched naira notes for foreign currencies, particularly US dollars.
“To me, the policy may be a well-conceived one, but the timing, going by realities on ground, is very wrong as the naira may fall to as low as N1,000 to a US dollar before January 31, 2023 fixed for full implementation of the policy.”
Ahmed, responding to that said she was not aware of the policy but only heard of it from the media.
“Distinguished senators, we were not consulted at the Ministry of Finance by CBN on the planned naira redesigning and cannot comment on it as regards merits or otherwise.
“However as a Nigerian privileged to be at the top of Nigeria’s fiscal management, the policy, as rolled out at this time, portends serious consequences on value of naira to other foreign currencies.
“I will, however, appeal to this committee to invite the CBN governor for required explanations as regards merits of the planned policy and rightness or otherwise of its implementation now,” she said.