Report that CBN spends N58.6 billion to print N2.518 billion naira notes, mischief – Group

A group operating under the aegis of Emefiele Mobilisation Team (EMT) has described media reports in some online platforms that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) spent the sum of N58.618 billion to print 2.518 billion Naira notes, valued at 1. 063 trillion in, 2020 as mischief.

The group in a statement on Wednesday which was issued by the National Coordinator, Dr. Jacob Attah said, it was appalling how it became very difficult for some traducers to fact check reports authored by their sponsors before running it on their news outlets

The group said, the said report was appalling because the Central Bank of Nigeria is one of the most sensitive, but transparent institution which its activities are all uploaded on its website at: cbn.gov.ng for anyone, anywhere in the world to check and clear doubts.

The cost of printing banknotes as averred by the purveyors of the report is in figure 1:3:1 titled: “Cost of printing Banknotes in N’ million indicated a decrease in cost of printing bank notes within four years and that is from N30,000 in 2016 to N80,000 in 2019, but in 2020 it the cost of printing decreased to N58,000.

The apex bank under the leadership of Mr. Godwin Emefiele has been driving a cashless policy, which has reduced the heavy dependent on hard currencies. The e-currency which was launched last year was an initiative of the CBN that will reduce expenditure on printing of bank notes.

It indicated a decrease in the bank’s expenditure on currency printing, which stood at N75. 523 billion, in 2019 and N64. 040 billion, in 2018.

The current management of the CBN under the leadership of Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has been driving the cashless policy with a view to cutting the cost of printing bank notes and cash management, in the country. The new e-Naira was also initiated in line with the policy.

They said, the report was not properly interpreted, hence, the report was nothing short of falsehood.

“As stated, the CBN indicated in the report that the notes were printed in-country by the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc (NSPM Plc). The NSPM remained the sole printer of the Nigeria legal tender currency. The Central Bank of Nigeria is a major investor and holds 89.52 per cent of the shares in the company.

“The company has an installed capacity of produce 4 billion pieces of banknotes per annum in 2020, a total of 2.52 billion pieces of Banknotes was produced compared with 3.05 billion pieces of banknotes in 2019. This represented the decrease of 529.31 million pieces or 17.37 per cent on account of lower Bank currency order volume for the year.”