Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has revealed that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) naira redesign strategy has greatly reduced the prevalence of kidnappings in the country.

In a new interview with Radio Nigeria Kaduna, Malami stated that the strategy’s beneficial aspects were overlooked.

Recall that on February 10, a seven-member Supreme Court panel led by John Okoro barred the CBN from prohibiting the usage of old naira notes (N200, N500, and N1,000).

The judgment came in response to an ex parte application filed by three states: Kaduna, Kogi, and Zamfara.

Reacting to the ruling, Malami said;

“I told you the case is still in court, we will obey the court order but we also have right to explain to court the positive sides of the policy. If you see the negative side of it, you have to see the positive sides. If these governors told the court the hardships been experienced as a result of the policy, there are also some problems that the policy is solving.
I gave you example of insecurity. Immediately this policy was introduced, the rampant kidnapping has drastically reduced. It also reduced rate of corruption, therefore we have right to go and explain to court these positive sides. The court gave order without listening to government side but it fixed 15 February to hear from the government.
Everybody knows part of the reasons Nigerians elected President Muhammadu Buhari is to fight corruption, insecurity and boost economy. The policy was introduced considering these and we will ask court to look at both sides of it.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has rejected claims that its Governor, Godwin Emefiele, stated that the present difficulty in distributing the newly redesigned naira banknotes is due to a scarcity of printing materials at the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Plc.

According to several media reports, Emefiele mentioned this during his presentation to the National Council of State on Friday, February 10, 2023.

The apex bank stated that, contrary to circulating information, Emefiele told the Council meeting that the NSPMC was working on producing all denominations of the Naira to suit Nigerians’ transaction demands.

A statement released by Osita Nwanisobi, Director, Corporate Communications of the CBN, reads in part;

“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.”

The central bank also responded to a false voice note that was spreading on social media, claiming that the CBN was about to close down several banks in a specific geographical zone 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 reads.