By Anita
On Friday, October 28, Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said the Central Bank of Nigeria did not consult her ministry before deciding to redesign naira notes by December.
The Minister, who was responding to Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (APC Ekiti Central) during the Senate Committee on Finance’s 2023 budget defense session, warned that the new notes could have a negative impact on the value of the Naira.
Bamidele told the Finance Minister that the CBN’s policy had begun to have an impact on the value of the Naira in relation to the US dollar only two days after it was announced.
“Just two days after the announcement of the policy, the value of the Naira to a US Dollar had risen from N740 to N788 to a US dollar due to massive rush to exchange Naira for Dollars”
“To me, the policy may be a well -conceived one, but the timing going by realities on 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.”
In her response, the Minister, who clarified that her position was purely personal, stated that she and her Ministry were unaware of the policy and had only learned about it through the media.
“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, a Nigerian privileged to be at the top of Nigeria’s fiscal management, the policy as rolled out at this time, portends serious consequences for the value of 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.”
The CBN quickly responded last night, October 28, saying it was shocked by the minister’s outburst and that the Naira redesign project had been approved by President Muhammadu Buhari after following all applicable procedures.
On the same day, CBN officials cleared up worries over the price of printing the new notes by claiming that they would print in the county and stay within the apex bank’s budget.
