The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should have introduced N5,000 notes to avoid the hardship Nigerians are facing due to the Naira redesign, the Director-General of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Sola Obadimu, has said.

According to NACCIMA DG in a report by NAN on Monday, embarking on the currency redesign was a bad move by the apex bank.

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Recall with 𝕹𝖔𝖇𝖑𝖊 𝕽𝖊𝖕𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖘 𝕸𝖊𝖉𝖎𝖆 that the head of the central bank, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed in October 2022 that the N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes would be redesigned to mop up the N2.7 trillion in circulation.

Although the financial regulator denied any plan of introducing N5,000 notes, it went ahead to release the aforementioned denominations in December, stating that the old version would cease to be legal starting from January 31, 2023.

The apex bank later extended the deadline to February 10, 2023, after public outcry over the shortage of the new Naira notes in commercial banks.

𝕹𝖔𝖇𝖑𝖊 𝕽𝖊𝖕𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖘 𝕸𝖊𝖉𝖎𝖆 understands that the transition from the old Naira to the redesigned currencies has not been successful with Nigerians protesting at banks due to the inability to withdraw and buy goods.

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NACCIMA DG said introducing N5,000 was the solution to mopping the N2.7 trillion in circulation, “If I were the CBN governor, all I would have done was to have introduced a N5,000 note.”

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Obadimu also stated “That would have helped to mop up the money in circulation without the kickbacks we are getting. Because it is a higher denomination, fewer amounts of bills would have been printed.”

Meanwhile, he supported the call of the CBN that Nigerians should embrace a cashless society, but he said the country wasn’t ready yet, as banks find it difficult to refund customers after a transaction declines.

He said, “For instance, when a financial transaction declines, you get debited and the bank cannot refund you for up to three weeks even if the transaction is to the same bank.”

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Obadimu stated further, “So, for the urban network to improve and for the rural areas to catch up, the government has to invest heavily in infrastructure so that every part of Nigeria will be digitised.”