President Muhammadu has reaffirmed his support to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s decision to redesign three higher denominations of the Naira, giving additional reasons to the statement by the apex bank on its action.

According to a statement issued on Sunday by the President’s spokesperson, Garba Shehu, the president said the CBN’s decision had his support, and he is convinced that Nigeria will gain a lot by doing so.

President Buhari unveiled that the reasons given to him by the CBN convinced him that the economy stood to benefit from the reduction in inflation, currency counterfeiting and the excess cash in circulation, Mr Shehu wrote.

The spokesperson said the president spoke in a Hausa radio interview with two journalists, Halilu Getso and Kamaluddeen Shawai, to be aired Wednesday Morning on Tambari TV.

The president also said he did not consider the period of three months for the change to the new notes as being short.

“People with illicit money buried under the soil will have a challenge with this but workers, businesses with legitimate incomes will face no difficulties at all,” President Buhari was quoted as saying.

Discordant tunes have continued to trail the CBN policy on the redesign of the N1,000; N500; N200 notes as the finance minister, Mrs Zainab Ahmed has said publicly that she and her ministry were not aware of the currency change as announced by the CBN. minister for Finance Mrs Zainab Ahmed told the Senate on Thursday, that her ministry was not carried along before the CBN as the monetary authority made public its announcement and opined that the ministry is still studying the proposed changes.

But the CBN has expressed surprise at the minister’s claim, stressing that the CBN remains a very thorough institution and followed due process as far as redesigning three series of the Naira is concerned.

The spokesperson of the CBN Mr. Osita Nwanisobi, said the management of the CBN, in line with provisions of section 2(b), section 18(a), and section 19(a)(b) of the CBN Act 2007, had duly sought and obtained the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari in writing to redesign, produce, release, and circulate new series of N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes.

The new series of the Naira will start circulating as a legal tender from December 15th this year, while the existing currency will stop being accepted starting from January 31st, 2021. The CBN Governor gave some reasons for the apex bank’s decision including hoarding of banknotes by the public and shortage of clean and fit currency notes for transactions, among other facts birthed the new initiatives and urged Nigerians to support the currency redesign project in the overall interest of the country, reiterating that some persons were hoarding significant sums of banknotes outside the vaults of commercial banks.

It is believed that not less than 80 percent of money supply in the country is locked out of the banking system a factor that makes CBN monetary policies ineffective and unable to fulfil the objectives for which they are pronounced. The redesign will also help to ensure the integrity of the currency and take out dirty notes.