The Central Bank of Nigeria’s decision to redesign and reissue greater denominations of the Naira, the country’s currency, has been praised by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, or EFCC. The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, stated during a news conference today, October 26, 2022, that the apex bank has received President Muhammadu Buhari’s authority to resign and print new N200, N500, and N1000 notes that would go into circulation by December 15th, 2022.
Responding to the development, the Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa described the move by the apex bank as “a well-considered and timely response” to the challenges of currency management which has negatively impacted the country’s monetary policy and security imperatives. “The EFCC, the CBN and some other regulators in the financial sector have worked closely in the recent past to determine how best to stabilize the country’s monetary policy environment. It is heart-warming that the CBN has demonstrated courage in taking this bold decision which I believe will bring sanity to the currency management situation in Nigeria”, he said.
In order to achieve a smooth withdrawal of the old currency, he urged operators in the Nigerian financial services industry, in particular deposit money banks and bureau de change operators, to follow the rules set down by the Central Bank of Nigeria. However, Bawa issued a warning that the EFCC will supervise the procedure to prevent the exercise from being harmed by dishonest participants, currency speculators, and their allies within the BDCs. Additionally, he urged banks to be aware of their reporting requirements and refrain from helping dishonest clients use their system to launder suspected criminal proceeds.
The head of the EFCC also made note of how the goals that the CBN is trying to accomplish with the redesign and reissue of the higher denomination Naira notes were in line with those of the Money Laundering Prevention Prohibition Act 2022, which makes carrying out cash transactions over a certain amount of money illegal.
According to Section 2 (1) of the Money Laundering Act 2022 “No person or body corporate shall, except in a transaction through a financial institution, make or accept cash payment of a sum exceeding— (a) N5,000,000 or its equivalent, in the case of an individual ; or (b) N10,000,000 or its equivalent, in the case of a body corporate.”
The EFCC Chairman noted that the Commission had recently taken operational action against currency hoarders in major commercial cities of Nigeria and expressed optimism that the new currency measure would further boost Nigerians’ embrace of banking culture and encourage the acceptance of cashless transactions.
“It is therefore pertinent to issue this stern warning to Bureau de Change operators to be wary of currency hoarders who would attempt to seize this opportunity to offload the currencies they had illegally stashed away.”
The EFCC boss further indicated that the Commission will make no attempt to bring to justice any financial services operator who violates current rules and regulations, noting that hoarders of currency quickly made their hoard available to criminal business.