New Naira Notes: EFCC ICPC to Monitor Large Volumes of Cash Withdrawals, Says CBN
PMB
• Buhari excited about new notes
The Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, on Wednesday warned those who may be aiming at withdrawing large sums of cash after the introduction of the new Naira notes.
Emefiele said both operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) will monitor those who withdraw large volumes of cash to ensure they are for genuine reasons.
Besides, he said those wishing to do so will have to go through a lot of bureaucratic bottlenecks such as filling some documents before they will be allowed to have access to such money.
He said this was mainly to ensure that things were done in the right way.
The CBN Governor spoke during the launch of the redesigned naira notes in Abuja.
He said, “We will restrict the volume of cash that people can withdraw over the counter. If you need to withdraw large volume of cash, you will fill uncountable forms. We will take your data, whether it is your BVN, your NIN so that enforcement agencies, like EFCC or ICPC, can follow you and be sure that you are taking that money for good purpose.
“We have to work as a country, Nigeria is the biggest country, both in population and economy, in Africa and we have to ensure that we do things the right way that also position us as leader in Africa and one of the leading countries in the world.
“We must do things right and I think it would start from today.”
On why CBN had to redesign the Naira, he explained that this was the practice worldwide, adding that it was not against any particular individual.
He said, “The practice worldwide is that currencies should be redesigned or replaced or reissued every five to eight years. But for Nigeria, we have not had the opportunity of redesigning and reissuing currency in the last almost 19 years.
“The CBN by law has a mandate to reissue and redesign currency for the country and for Nigerian people every five to eight years. And I want to hope that after the event of today, the CBN can just take it as part of its programmes to see to it that within five to eight years, the currencies are designed or reissued.
“It is because mainly the central bank should be able to have full control of the size of currency in circulation. That is the sole mandate of the CBN, because it has implications for monetary policy management in the country”.
President Muhammadu Buhari who was at the event commended the CBN, adding that the redesign will assist the apex bank in its money policy implementations.
Buhari also said it was a good development that the new notes were printed locally by the by the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting (NSPM) Plc.
He described the new naira banknotes as having been fortified with security features that make will make it difficult to counterfeit.
“While this may not be apparent to many Nigerians, only four out of the 54 African countries print their currencies in their countries, and Nigeria is one. Hence, a majority of African countries print their currencies abroad and import them the way we import other goods.
“That is why it is with immense pride that I announce to you that these redesigned currencies are locally produced right here in Nigeria by our Security Printing and Minting Plc.
“The new naira banknotes have been fortified with security features that make them difficult to counterfeit.”
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