No Plans To Redenominate Naira, CBN Says

The Central Bank of Nigeria has denied reports claiming it plans to redenominate the country’s local currency.

The Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, Isa AbdulMumin, said this in a statement titled, ‘No plan to redenominate the naira’, on Tuesday.

AbdulMumin said, “The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria has been drawn to the wide circulation of a text message suggesting that the Bank plans to redenominate the country’s legal tender, the naira, with effect from January 2024. We are concerned that this narrative, which we had refuted before now, appears to be gaining traction with several debates on the implication of such a policy for the Nigerian economy.

“We wish to reiterate that the contents of the message are misleading. The authors of the message, in their mischief, modified text eked from an old policy move by a previous CBN governor in 2007 to make it appear recent.

“For the avoidance of doubt, there is currently no plan by the bank to restructure and redenominate the naira. While the bank may be considering reforms, such are subject to laid down procedures in line with the provisions of the CBN Act 2007.”

While urging the public to ignore the report, he said it was speculative and calculated to cause panic in the polity.