Posted by Daily Champion (Lagos) on
AS the date for the introduction of the N1000 note draws near, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said that it is planning to improve the quality of the naira notes in circulation.
AS the date for the introduction of the N1000 note draws near, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said that it is planning to improve the quality of the naira notes in circulation.
Deputy Governor (policy) of the apex bank, Mr. Obadiah Mailafia disclosed this at the opening of a cash management seminar organised for CBN personnel involved in currency processing.
The seminar held in Abuja at the weekend.
Mailafia said the apex bank intended to resuscitate the campaign on 'the proper ways of handling naira notes in its efforts to enhance the quality of the notes."
The bank, he also said, would embark on regular currency review and make use of more durable chemicals to enhance the quality of the notes. Mailafia dispelled rumours of an impending closure of CBN Currency Processing Offices (CPOs) located within all its branches nationwide.
He said that the ongoing re-engineering programme in the bank, particularly staff deployment exercise, would not lead to the closure of any of its processing offices.
Infact, the CPOs will be adequately manned while the CBN will continue to process notes destruction in line with the best practice.
"The operators and other categories of staff involved in currency processing are, therefore, advised to re-double their efforts to hence productivity in order to justify the huge investments made by the bank in the currency processing project," he said.
The deputy governor said, CBN had invested a lot of resources in the procurement, installation and maintenance of currency processing machines.
He expressed regrets that the huge investment on the project had not been adequately reciprocated in terms of productivity.
"The output of the operators is generally low, the frequency of systems breakdown is high, while the length of stay of bank notes in the vault before processing remains rather long," Mailafia said.
He expressed appreciation to "De La Reu" the foreign company manning CBN's processing systems.