“Too Harsh”: President Bola Tinubu Speaks on Use of Old and New Naira Notes as Emefiele Prepares to Leave

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has announced that the old and new naira notes will continue to be recognised as legal tender.

You will recall that on On October 26, 2022, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced that the high naira values of N200, N500 and N1,000 would be redesigned and introduced into the economy from December 15, 2022.

Addressing Nigerians for the first time as president on Monday, May 29, 2023, Bola Tinubu said his administration would revisit the naira redesign policy.

He also directed the CBN and other financial institutions to treat the old and new banknotes as legal tender.  

His words:

“The currency swap was too harshly applied by the CBN given the number of unbanked Nigerians.

“The policy shall be reviewed. In the meantime, my administration will treat both currencies as legal tender.”

Tinubu also spoke about house cleaning while instructing CBN to begin work towards a unified exchange rate.

Expert reacts

Reacting, Muda Yusuf, chief executive officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, praised the decision of the new president to put in place a unified exchange rate.

He explained:

“It should be clarified that this is not a devaluation proposition. Rather, it is a pricing mechanism that reflects the demand and supply fundamentals in the foreign exchange market, which allows for rate adjustments as and when necessary.”