Gombe merchants have been educated by the Central Bank of Nigeria on the value of adopting the new currency notes and the significance of understanding their fundamental security characteristics.
The Senior Manager of the Currency Operations Department, Shamsudeen Imam, stated during a one-day awareness campaign on Tuesday at the Gombe International Market that the currency shift was a wise decision that would have a positive impact on the economy.
Speaking about the fundamental security elements for the new naira notes, Imam remarked, “Some aspects are challenging for counterfeiters to copy. The problem of color: If you have genuine money and cover it with a handkerchief, the color will show, indicating that it is genuine; but, if the money is false, the color won’t show. The watermark is basic another basic security feature.”
According to him, other countries change theirs every five years. Imam said, “Globally, currencies are designed every five to eight years but for Nigeria, it is long overdue. Some of our currencies have stayed for 14 to 20 years, so it is the right time to redesign our currency.”
While enumerating the importance of the currency change, Imam said it would improve the country’s monetary policy.
He said, “The transmission mechanism, we use money supplied to transmit our monetary policy. The CIC is a component of monetary policy so definitely our monetary policy mechanism will be very effective. It will improve our financial inclusion drive, as it will push a lot of people to open account because we can’t carry cash to a bank and carry cash. You need to open an account and as a result, more people will come into the financial system.”
He disagreed that the sensitisation was coming rather late, following the deadline, “it is not coming late because sensitisation has been on local radio stations.”
The Branch Controller of CBN, Shehu Goringo said, “We encourage the banks to issue out the new currencies. It is fully fortified with security features and I don’t think it can be faked.”
Responding to a question about shortage of the new currencies, following the circulation of old notes, Goringo ruled out possible postponement in date.
He said, “There is no shortage, we have and we are moving it out. All I know is that we have a deadline that is 31st January.”
Also, the General Secretary of Gombe State Traders Association, Adamu Manga, lauded the initiative.
Manga said the policy would ensure sanity in doing business.
“We are in a modern society there is no basis to say you don’t have account number, when you have a phone,” Manga said.
