Posted by Guardian on
The The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will by the end of this year introduce N20 in polymer substrate (plastic form).
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will by the end of this year introduce N20 in polymer substrate (plastic form).
It will also introduce new N1 and 50 Kobo coins including a new coin denomination of N2 by the end of the year.
Already, the contract for the minting has been awarded by the CBN. The CBN also said that through its restructuring efforts, it has made between 41 to 58 per cent cost reduction in the printing of notes and 60 per cent reduction in the minting of coins. CBN Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo made the disclosures Wednesday while updating the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on its reforms. He regretted that Nigeria was the only country in the world that had a mint but still imported currency.
Although emphasising that such importation would end by December 31 this year, he said that the Nigeria Security Minting and Printing Company (NSMPC) had before the recent staff retrenchment employed about 1,800 workers but needed only about 900, just as the company never produced up to 1 billion notes in over 10 years. He also said that the output at the mint has now increased by over 30 per cent by December 2005 with the printing of N1.27 billion notes for the first time in over 10 years, adding that "the model of privatisation of the mint targeted for next year is that the Bureau for Public Enterprise (BPE) will still do the exercise but I believe that selling the shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange would be the best so that Nigerians can have an opportunity." Prof.
Soludo stated that as part of the on-going reforms, departments in the CBN has been reduced from 16 from 23, while staff strength has also been reduced from 10,003 in 1999 to 4,836 in 2006. He predicted that "within 10 years Nigerian banks should be among the top 50 to 100 banks in the world", saying that foreign banks that want to come into Nigeria to do business have been keeping in touch with the CBN.