Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed on Friday declared that the ministry was not in any way involved in the ongoing naira redesign exercise by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
It will be recalled that the apex bank had on Wednesday announced that circulation of the newly redesigned N100, N200, N500 and N1000 naira notes would begin on December 15.
CBN governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele had added that the move was to counter terrorism financing, hoarding of banknotes by members of the public, with statistics showing that over 85 per cent of monies in circulation were outside the vaults of the commercial banks.
Ahmed however said her ministry was not consulted with regard to this step, warning that the new policy may have grave consequences on the value of naira to other foreign currencies.
Team@orientactualmags.com learned the minister said this while responding to questions from members of the Senate Committee on Finance during 2023 budget defence session.
Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele had noted that barely two days after the announcement of the naira redesign exercise by CBN, its effects on the value of Naira to US dollar was already being felt.
‘Just two days after the announcement of the policy, value of Naira to a US dollar has risen from N740 to N788 to a US dollar due to the rush in exchange of starched naira notes for foreign currencies, particularly US dollar.
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 the January 31, 2023 fixed for full implementation of the policy’ he said.
Responding, the minister said she was not aware of the policy but only heard of it from the media like other Nigerians.
‘Distinguished senators, we were not consulted at the Ministry of Finance by CBN on the planned naira redesigning and cannot comment on it as regard its 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 value of naira to other foreign currencies.
I will, however, appeal to this committee to invite the CBN governor for required explanations as regard merits of the planned policy and the rightness or otherwise of its implementation now’ she said- Team@orientactualmags.com
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