N5,000 Notes Are Coming in 2014 – CBN

N5,000 Notes Are Coming in 2014 Despite being criticized by the public, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has confirmed plans to produce and distribute the N5,000 note in 2014.

Tunde Lemo, the Deputy Governor of CBN, disclosed this while speaking to journalists at the NIBSS 20th anniversary conference held in Lagos.

He said in one to two months from now, the N5,000 notes will be in circulation!

    “We only stopped the project due to the low level of understanding of its benefits among Nigerians, but we now plan to educate the people about the importance of the notes to our economy before we eventually launch it”, Tunde Lemo explained.

He further added that Nigerians would soon see the notes in circulation and start to enjoy its benefits.

Some financial experts on November 27, 2013, Wednesday, commended the CBN on its plan to change naira notes from polymer to paper notes in second quarter of 2014. They said in Lagos that the plan was a good decision, but long over-due.

Mr. Muda Yusuf, the Director-General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), said that the decision was well intended.

He said that it was an error on the part of CBN to have produced polymer notes.

Yusuf urged the CBN to be cost conscious in the production of naira notes, saying the polymer notes lacked quality as they faded easily.

He also advised the CBN to ensure that the new naira notes would have longer life span for them to stand the test of time.

    “I think there is quality issue with the polymer notes because they fade so fast.

    “If you examine some of the polymer notes, you will be struggling to read what is written on them.

    “So, I think it is a better decision because the quality of the polymer is so poor and it was an error for CBN to have opted for the use of polymer notes,” he said.

Mr. Harrison Owoh, the Managing Director, HJ Trust and Investments in Lagos, said: “I wonder why it took the CBN a period of six years before it detected the flaws in the polymer notes”.

Owoh said that the move by the CBN to phase out the polymer notes might be politically inclined, adding that the CBN had been “foot dragging” on the issue for long.

It would be mentioned the polymer notes were first introduced in 2007 with N20 denomination and later in 2009 with the N5, N10, and N50 denominations.

-VANGUARD