LAMIDO SANUSI WANTS THE NAIRA RE-DESIGNED

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Lamido Sanusi yesterday pleaded that the
only way to end the menace of fake Naira currencies circulating the country is to have the Naira
redesigned.
In an interactive session with the House of Representatives committee on Banking
and Currency, Sanusi answered to the enquiry on why fake notes have been said
to be issued by the automated teller machines (Atm) across the nation.
Saying that it was supposed to be a routine exercise done every seven or so yeears, he also
regretted thet the issue of the planned N5000 notes has not been fruitfull due to the widespread
rejection of the last attempt.
"Unfortunately, redesign suffered because of all the noise around N5,000, and therefore, it's been
delayed because that is what would have made it impossible for counterfeiters to counterfeit.
They would have to take another five, six, seven years before they learn how to counterfeit. By
which point, the central bank should be redesigning the notes again.
"I suppose that at some point, the country would have to visit this issue of redesigning the
notes. But at the moment, based on popular demand, we have had to step down the redesign,"
Sanusi said.
Going further, Sanusi informed the committee while responding to why monetary policy rates are
high in the country that there isn't much the CBN can do since other factors are responsible for
the rates being above single digit.