The Central Bank of Nigeria says it has plan no to shut down any banks and also that it has confidence in the ability of the Security Printing company to meet the needs of the Naira replacement project.
In a statement dated February 10 but only made available Saturday, CBN spokesman Osita Nwanisobi dismissed as fabricated assertions that the Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, attributed the current challenge in the distribution of the newly redesigned naira banknotes to a shortage of printing materials at the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Plc.
According to him, “at no time did the CBN Governor disclose this during his presentation to the National Council of State at its meeting on Friday, February 10, 2023.
“For the records, what Mr. Emefiele told the meeting was that the NSPMC was working on printing all denominations of the Naira to meet the transaction needs of Nigerians.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the CBN remains committed to performing its monetary policy functions, as stipulated in the CBN Act, 2007, as amended. We also wish to restate that the NSPMC has the capacity and enough materials to produce the required indent of the Naira.
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The apex described as ”misleading a voice note trending in social media alleging that the CBN planned to shut down some banks, particularly in a particular geo- political region of the country.
“We wish to state unequivocally that there is no such plan and that the claims are illogical and do not comply with the workings of the Nigerian banking system. The public is therefore advised to ignore such recordings as they do not represent the policy thrust of the CBN and are only the desperate attempts of persons bent on inciting the public against the Bank.”
