CBN: All denominations of naira being printed to meet capacity

The Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC) Plc has the capacity to produce the required indent of the Naira notes, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has said.

The apex bank’s Director, Corporate Communications, Osita Nwanisobi, said this in a statement on Saturday.

Nwanisobi also said the apex bank was working assiduously to increase the circulation of the newly redesigned naira notes across the country.

This came against the backdrop of reports that the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, attributed the current challenge in the distribution of the newly redesigned naira notes to a shortage of printing materials at the NSPMC, also known as the Mint.

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Emefiele was quoted to have told the leaders that the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc (The Mint), suffers capacity constraints, resulting in the failure to print adequate new notes to replace the old N200, N500 and 1,000 notes.

“The Mint has run out of papers to print N500 and 1,000 notes. They have placed orders with a German firm and De La Rue of the UK (for papers) but they have been placed on a long waiting list, so their orders cannot be met now.”

However, Nwanisobi said at no time did the CBN governor, during his presentation to the National Council of States, disclose that the Mint lacked the capacity to print the required banknotes.

“The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been drawn to a misleading report misquoting the Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, as attributing the current challenge in the distribution of the newly redesigned naira banknotes to a shortage of printing materials at the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Plc,” the statement reads.

“We wish to state categorically that at no time did the CBN Governor disclose this during his presentation to the National Council of State at its meeting on Friday, February 10, 2023.

“For the records, what Mr. Emefiele told the meeting was that the NSPMC was working on printing all denominations of the Naira to meet the transaction needs of Nigerians.

“While the CBN appreciates the concerns shown by all stakeholders about the distribution of the Naira, we are alarmed at the extent to which vested interests are attempting to manipulate facts and pitch the public against the Bank.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the CBN remains committed to performing its monetary policy functions, as stipulated in the CBN Act, 2007, as amended. We also wish to restate that the NSPMC has the capacity and enough materials to produce the required indent of the Naira.

“The Bank, therefore, wishes to appeal to the public to disregard the said report and exercise more restraint, even as we work assiduously to increase the circulation of the new notes in the country.

“Similarly, there is a misleading voice note trending in social media alleging that the CBN planned to shut down some banks, particularly in a particular geopolitical region of the country.

“We wish to state unequivocally that there is no such plan and that the claims are illogical and do not comply with the workings of the Nigerian banking system. The public is therefore advised to ignore such recordings as they do not represent the policy thrust of the CBN and are only the desperate attempts of persons bent on inciting the public against the Bank,” the statement read in part.