Finance Minister Denies Knowledge Of New Naira Notes

Barely 48 hours after Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele announced plans to redesign naira notes, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has revealed that she or her ministry knows nothing about the recent decision of the apex bank.
The minister made this disclosure while responding to a question by Senator Opeyemi Bamidele of Ekiti Central at the 2023 budget defence session with the Senate Committee on Finance, cautioned the CBN of the repercussion of its action.

According to her, she and her Ministry were not aware of the policy or foretold about it, adding that she only heard about it from the media just like everyone.

She said “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 the value of the 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,” Ahmed noted.

It was gathered that Bamidele noted that “Just two days after the announcement of the policy, the value of the Naira to a US dollar has risen from N740 to N788 to a US dollar due to rush in exchange of stashed Naira notes for foreign currencies, particularly the U.S. dollar.

“To me, the policy may be a well-conceived one, but the timing going by the realities on the 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.”

However, the CBN governor in a statement on Wednesday said the decision was reached after the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari and the Federal Executive Council (FEC).