Sequel to the public outcry against the Federal Government’s proposed N5,000 bill, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said  the United States of America also had higher denomination bills, but that Americans were not compelled to use them in daily transactions.
Okupe then told Nigerians in the same vein that when the new higher denomination currency goes into circulation, they could also decline to be paid when they go to banks to withdraw money.
Okupe has only spoken half-truth about the $1,000 bill, however, as the currency is far profitable as a memento, instead of as legal tender.

This is what Wikipedia, the online free reference, has to say about the $1,000 bill:

The base currency of the United States is the U.S. dollar, and is printed on bills in denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100. At one time, however, U.S. currency included five larger denominations.

Notes in the denominations of $500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000 were printed for general use, and a $100,000 note was printed for certain internal transactions.
High-denomination currency was prevalent from the very beginning of U.S. Government issue (1861).
Interest-bearing notes of $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 were issued in 1861, and $5,000 and $10,000 United States Notes were released in 1878.

Although they are still technically legal tender in the United States, high-denomination bills were last printed in 1945 and officially discontinued on July 14, 1969 by the Federal Reserve System.

The $5,000 and $10,000 effectively disappeared well before then. Of the $10,000 bills, 100 were preserved for many years by Benny Binion, the owner of Binion’s Horseshoe casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, where they were displayed encased in acrylic.

The display has since been dismantled and the bills sold to private collectors. Also, there is one large-size, 1800s-era $1,000 bill in the Bird Cage Theatre in Tombstone, Arizona, underneath the glass counter top.

The Federal Reserve began taking high-denomination bills out of circulation in 1969. As of May 30, 2009, there were only 336 $10,000 bills known to exist; 342 remaining $5,000 bills; and 165,372 remaining $1,000 bills.

Due to their rarity, collectors will pay considerably more than the face value of the bills to acquire them. Some are even in other parts of the world in museums.

For the most part, these bills were used by banks and the Federal Government for large financial transactions.

However, the introduction of the electronic money system has made large-scale cash transactions obsolete. When combined with concerns about counterfeiting and the use of cash in unlawful activities such as the illegal drug trade, it is unlikely that the U.S. government will re-issue large denomination currency in the near future, despite the amount of inflation that has occurred since 1969.

According to the US Department of Treasury website, “The present denominations of our currency in production are $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100. Neither the Department of the Treasury nor the Federal Reserve System has any plans to change the denominations in use today.”

The $1,000 was printed as a small-size Federal Reserve Note in 1928 and 1934, and a small-size Gold Certificate in 1928 and 1934.
As of May 30, 2009, there were 165,372 $1,000 bills known to exist.
With this explanation, I urge the Nigerian Government to discontinue the N5,000 note project, if only to prove the opposition wrong that it’s meant to ease the burden of ferrying huge sums of money about during the 2015 elections!

Ganiyyu Ahmad,

g_ahmad1960@aol.com

Why do some peeps make posts and add 'pics' in the headline even when there aren't any.....or by 'pics' do you mean A pic of Doyin Okupe ?

I've noticed this annoying trend a lot lately.

Britain has fifty pounds note,but you can live in england for whole year without seeing or using it.Because you dont have to for the fact that you hardly deal with cash and even when you do,prices of what you buy can be conveniently taken care by ten/twenty ponds notes.

But because nigerian economy is going the way of countries like zimbabwe,unproductive,the currency has become tissue papers,with little or no values,so the only way to curtail the uselessness is to print higher denominsation,so that people dont have to weigh down themselves with too useless currencies in their pockets or bags.

With the way nigeria is going,in no time a million naira note will be a thing of yesterday.It is what happen to unresourceful,they have no bargaining power

redsun: Britain has fifty pounds note,but you can live in england for whole year without seeing or using it.Because you dont have to for the fact that you hardly deal with cash and even when you do,prices of what you buy can be conveniently taken care by ten/twenty ponds notes.

But because nigerian economy is going the way of countries like zimbabwe,unproductive,the currency has become tissue papers,with little or no values,so the only way to curtail the uselessness is to print higher denominsation,so that people dont have to weigh down themselves with too useless currencies in their pockets or bags.

With the way nigeria is going,in no time a million naira note will be a thing of yesterday.It is what happen to unresourceful,they have no bargaining power

This reminds me of post-war Iraq, when a loaf of bread was purchased with a stack of cash much larger than the loaf, and that cash was weighed on a scale, rather than counted.

I look forward to the printing of a one-million naira note, because by that time, even the poorest man in Nigeria will have joined the millionaire club. Thank you Jeesus ha ha ha.

Its time to send sanusi home

can someone tell dodi okupe that the us also have good health service, good road nko , e dey, olopa service nko , e dey,
good goferment nko , edey. good education nko, edey. shall continue ? guess not. less i forget the u.s landed in the MOON also in the 60s.
y compare the goods that favour only our government without looking @ the sacrices made over the years by people who are dedicated to better the lives of her people.

PROUD-IGBO:
Why do some peeps make posts and add 'pics' in the headline even when there aren't any.....or by 'pics' do you mean A pic of Doyin Okupe ?

I've noticed this annoying trend a lot lately.

I don't get it either. Is it a desperate attempt to attract folks to visit a thread via stating that there is pictorial material inside the thread? What one Earth is this OP attempting writing (PICS) as if there are several pictures pertinent to the topic only to irrelevantly show a single picture of Okupe? Garish and needless embellishment if you ask me.

But the US already have $100 bills, equivalent of about N15000. If the argumant against this is in terms of value, i don't think it stands firm.

1000 bills are not in circulation...you can live in Amerlica for 50 years and not even seen a 1000 bill. I don't understand the comparison.

behold the face of a liar

What's the fraudster saying?
5k makes stealing easier

Why do we compare Nigeria with the US wen it only favour our arguement...if US have $1000 its because it is America dis is Nigeria where we ve a thief like Doyin Okupe rep a clueless president like GEJ..guess I just spot d difference

Well, the US may have a $1000 note (which I've never seen by the way [thought they were pulled?]), but the difference between the US's $1000 note and Nigeria's possible N5000 note is that $1000 can buy two of the latest 16gb iPads and N5000 can buy a 2gb iPod Shuffle from 2009.

[size=14pt]The question we should be asking is why was 1000dollar bill withdrawn from circulation?


Corruption and fake bill printing very very easy.[/size]