CBN orders N1,000 notes worth N120bn

Ahead of the October 12 official launch of the new N1000 notes, by President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has ordered for the production of 120million pieces of the new notes. The 120 million pieces have a spending value of N120 billion.

CBN's Deputy Governor, Operations, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, made this known to newsmen in Abuja yesterday where he said a British mint company, De La Rue, has been contracted to produce the new notes which carry portraits of the first two Governors of the apex bank, namely Alhaji Aliyu Mai-Borno and Dr. Clement Isong.

He said the N1000 notes are being produced at a unit cost of about N7.77k per piece, adding that the notes come with about eight different security features, one of which is a raised print texture which can be felt in the numerals 1000 and the letters printed on the notes.

Another security feature of the new notes includes a triangular shape in the middle of the front of the note which changes colour from green to blue when the note is tilted.

Dr. Usman said the security features are meant to "protect against counterfeit and ease the recognition of a genuine note", pointing out that "some of the security features are sensed by touch, others are visible to the naked eye with the aid of a magnifying lens or under ultraviolet light."

Besides the portrait of the first two indigenous governors of the apex bank, the new notes also have the CBN head office building, Nigerian Coat of Arms, a hill, and three huts at the back of the notes.

Dr. Usman said although the bank had an initial plan of introducing the notes in both polymer and paper forms, that it had to forgo the idea of producing the polymer version because the printers contracted could not meet the deadline given to them.

He allayed the fears of many Nigerians who believe that the introduction of such a high denomination of the Naira would cause inflation, saying that higher denominations of currencies have never been found to, on their own, cause inflation in any country.

On the contrary, he said, they come with a lot of benefits like making it easy for people to carry cash about and that they reduce the cost of doing business. Also, he noted, the new notes will help "clean up the currency in circulation as they will be used to replace some of the old notes in circulation".

Meanwhile, the deputy governor revealed that the apex bank has shelved its plan to change the N5 and N10 notes from notes to coins because of the planned West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) which seeks a uniform currency for West African countries.