It has subsequently recovered N1.9 trillion in currency stored outside the banking system as a result of its Naira note redesign and cash swap strategy.

Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, announced this on Sunday, January 29, 2023, as part of his briefing following a meeting with President Buhari.

Emefiele stated that the recovery initiative had a 75% success rate out of the N2.7 trillion held outside the banking system. “Using the Agen Naira Trade program as well as the CBN Senior Staff nationwide sensitization team activity, Nigerians in rural regions, villages, and the elderly and vulnerable have had the opportunity to swap their old notes,” he said.

The top bank issued new naira notes in denominations of N200, N500, and N1,000 to combat counterfeiting, improve the impact of monetary policy instruments on inflation, and mop up surplus liquidity.

Emefiele said: “Available data at the Central Bank of Nigeria has shown that in 2015, currency in circulation was only N1.4 trillion.”

“As of October 2022, currency in circulation had risen to N3.23 trillion; out of which only N500 billion was within the banking industry and N2.7 trillion was held permanently in people’s homes.”

“Ordinarily, when the CBN releases currency into circulation, it is meant to be used and after effluxion of time, it returns to the CBN thereby keeping the volume of currency in circulation under the firm control of the CBN.”

“So far and since the commencement of this program, we have collected about N1.9 trillion; leaving us with about N900 billion (N500 billion + N1.9 billion),” he said.

This information was made public by the CBN’s Deputy Governor for Financial System Stability, Aisha Ahmad, during her appearance before the House of Representatives over the weekend to defend the CBN’s new cash withdrawal limitations policy.

This comes after the Governor of the top bank, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed in November that 85% of the money in circulation in Nigeria was not backed by a bank.

“Analysis of the primary concerns basically suggested a considerable hoarding of banknotes as over 85% of the currency,” Emefiele remarked at the 57th Annual Bankers Dinner hosted by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in Lagos.

This is even as the amount of currency in circulation has more than doubled from N1.46 trillion in December 2015 to N3.23 trillion in September 2022, a worrisome trend that must be curbed”, he said.

According to him, the redesigned notes will help to rein in inflation as well as prevent hoarding of the country’s Naira notes.
According to Section 2(b) of the CBN Act, 2007, currency management is a key responsibility of the apex bank. Ahmad noted that in predominantly cash-based economies like Nigeria, such as Nigeria, the integrity of the currency and the efficient supply of banknotes are signs of a functioning central bank.

The CBN’s capacity to effectively carry out its mandate of issuing lawful tenders had been hampered, according to Ahmad, who highlighted the different issues facing currency management. If these challenges are not resolved, they will have an impact on the effectiveness of the bank’s policy.

According to her, these challenges include wholesale hoarding of naira banknotes by members of the public.

“An observation supported by statistics shows that cash outside banks consists of over 80 percent of the currency in circulation; worsening the shortage of fit banknotes in circulation. This portends a negative public perception of the bank and an increasing threat to financial system stability.

“High and increasing cost borne by the bank: A review of the cost of currency management from 2017 to 2021 indicated an average increase of over N10 billion per annum and over 90 percent of currency management costs are attributed to banknote production.

This affects the CBN and other participants in Nigeria’s currency management sector (banknote production, storage processing, distribution activities, and banknote destruction).” She said.

Emefiele had received barrage of criticism from the Netizens (Nigerians using the Internet) who urged him to resign over his alleged ambition to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari.

The netizens said although he (Emefiele) reserves the right as a Nigerian to seek to become the President, however, the sensitivity of his present office portends danger to the economy and the polity at large.

SERAP, a civil society organization using the handle @SERAPNigeria, tweeted:

“BREAKING: Following reports that the CBN governor Mr Godwin Emefiele has picked the APC N100m presidential nomination form, we urge him to immediately resign his position in line with S. 9 of the CBN Act.

“Engaging in politics will conflict with/detract from his full-time duties”.

@the_davidatta tweets:

“If I didn’t believe there was an AsoRock cabal, the audacity of Emefiele to even consider running for president, something Sanusi himself didn’t attempt, is making me start to believe”.

The Ondo State Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu also tweeted. He called on the President, Muhammadu Buhari, to sack the Governor of the Central Bank, for obtaining of All Progressives Congress presidential nomination form.

Akeredolu, in a statement he personally signed on Friday, said Emefiele’s purported action, “if unchecked timeously portends great danger to the fragile economy of the country.”

The governor said, “It is incontrovertible that Mr Emefiele enjoys a constitutionally protected right to belong to any group or association and participate fully, just as any Nigerian. It is, however, difficult to imagine that a person who occupies the exalted and sensitive office of the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria will be this brazen in actualising his ambition.

“There is no gain asserting the obvious. The combined effect of the Public Service Rules, CBN Act and the 1999 Constitution, as amended, exposes not only the oddity inherent in this brash exercise of presumed right to associate. It also confirms the illegality of the act should he proceed to submit the forms while occupying the seat as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“He cannot combine partisan politics with the very delicate assignment of his office. Should he refuse to quit, it becomes incumbent on the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to remove him forthwith. This is a joke taken too far.”

Another Twitter user using the handle @SulemanSuls tweets:

“I expected him to have been fired immediately he started making the movements and efcc and dss should make life difficult for him.

“He’s gone far below I expected of him

“There’s absolutely non (sic) of these contestants that can rule Nigeria according to what Nigeria needs now”;

Kalu Aja using the handle @FinPlanKaluAja1 also launched a poll on the subject matter:

“Godwin Emefiele has ridiculed the office of the Central Bank Governor.

“He lacks any moral authority to oversee the monetary policy or external reserves of Nigeria.

“He is essentially deploying the Ways and Means privileges to fund his politcal ambition.

“He should resign”.

The genesis of the matter was the news that farmers across the country bought the N100m presidential nomination and expression of interest forms of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the CBN Governor , Godwin Emefiele.

Operating under the banner of a coalition of commodity associations in Nigeria, the farmers took the decision of purchasing the forms for Emefiele on Wednesday at the end of a two-day intensive meeting in Maitama, Abuja, that drew more than 30 commodity associations from 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

But in a Tweet thread on Saturday from a verified account in the name of the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, he clarified as follows:

“I am humbled by the growing interest of those asking that I run for the Office of President i​​n the 2023 general elections: I have not come to that decision. 

“I note and salute the sacrifices of those farmers and patriots going as far as raising personal funds and offering me Presidential Nomination Forms: I thank them most profusely. 

“However, Should I answer their calls and decide to seek presidential nomination, I will use my own hard earned savings from over 35 years of banking leadership to buy my own Nomination Forms, without proxies in an open and transparent manner in full compliance with the laws and Constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

“And should I not run for elected office, I will continue to serve and sacrifice for the good people of Nigeria under the able leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari. This is a serious decision that requires God’s Divine intervention: in the next few days The Almighty will so direct.”

See the thread here: