Naira redesign: HURIWA backs finance minister, urges Buhari to sack Emefiele

Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Saturday, backed the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, who warned of “serious consequences on the value of the naira against other foreign currencies” if the Central Bank of Nigeria continues with its plan to redesign the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes.
HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement, described the planned redesign of the three banknotes as a money-guzzling gambit that will tumble the value of the naira and further destabilise the economy.
The group said the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, has again proved his incompetence through the sham plan best described as motion without movement. It consequently called on the National Assembly to move for the impeachment of the apex bank governor as President Muhammadu Buhari has refused to sack him and put an end to Nigeria’s fiscal woes.
Emefiele had on Wednesday said the CBN will issue redesigned N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, effective December 15, 2022, while the new and existing currencies will remain legal tender and circulate together until January 31, 2023.
Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Saturday, backed the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, who warned of “serious consequences on the value of the naira against other foreign currencies” if the Central Bank of Nigeria continues with its plan to redesign the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes.
HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement, described the planned redesign of the three banknotes as a money-guzzling gambit that will tumble the value of the naira and further destabilise the economy.
The group said the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, has again proved his incompetence through the sham plan best described as motion without movement. It consequently called on the National Assembly to move for the impeachment of the apex bank governor as President Muhammadu Buhari has refused to sack him and put an end to Nigeria’s fiscal woes.
Emefiele had on Wednesday said the CBN will issue redesigned N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, effective December 15, 2022, while the new and existing currencies will remain legal tender and circulate together until January 31, 2023.
However, the finance minister on Friday said the CBN governor did not carry her ministry along in the planned redesign of the three banknotes. “The policy as rolled out at this time portends serious consequences on the value of the naira against other foreign currencies,” Ahmed told the Senate Committee on the 2023 budget defence session.
In a swift rebuttal, the CBN, through its spokesman, Osita Nwanisob, expressed “surprise at the minister’s claim, stressing that the CBN remains a very thorough institution that follows due process in its policy actions”.