Nigeria lunch new polymer naira note

The president of Nigeria Umaru Musa Yar'Adua launch the new naira polymer bank note N5, N,10, and N50 at the  state house,Abuja under the leadership of Governor of Central Bank, Lamido Sanusi on wednesday.

Yar' Adua urged Nigerians to accept the new polymer banknotes, also has Nigerians to support the "keep the Naira note clean " the campaign of the CBN He said that the redesign of the lower denomination of the bank note and coins as well as the introduction of a N2 coin in February 2007 represented a comprehensive reform strategy aimed at enhancing the efficiency of the currency structure. “I must express my pleasure at the outcome of the ongoing currency restructuring programmed of the CBN which gathered momentum 10 years ago with the introduction of higher banknote denominations of N100, N200, N500 and N1,000 between 1999 and 2005. “I am informed that the reform process resulted in huge cost-savings arising from the reduction in the size of the notes and the streamlining of their security features,'' he said. The president further observed that the printing of the N20 denomination on polymer substrate had not only been found to be strong and durable, but had been well received by Nigerians. “The demonstrated expediency of adopting the poly substrate in banknote printing informed my approval for the conversion of the other lower banknote denominations in October 2008 on the recommendation of the Board of the CBN,” he said.

    Yar’Adua expressed the hope that the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting (NSPM) Plc., which was involved in the printing of the new polymer notes, would realise its optimal capacity in no distant future. “By the time the polymer substrate is produced in this country in the long-run, there is no overstating the benefit to Nigeria, as self-sufficiency in currency production, which indeed is the ultimate objective of this administration, would have been fully actualised,” he added. The Governor of the Central Bank, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who had earlier presented the new banknotes to the president for the launch, thanked Yar'Adua for granting approval for the new notes. He, however, said that the existing denominations of N5, N10 and N50 would remain legal tenders and would circulate side by side with the new polymer notes for the next six months. “The public can therefore, exchange their genuine old currencies in all banks, across the country,” he said.