The Central Bank of Nigeria has stopped
the printing of small denomination
naira notes in polymer because they
fade quickly.
The Deputy Governor, CBN, Mr. Tunde
Lemo, disclosed this in an interview
with the News Agency of Nigeria on
Sunday in Washington on the sidelines
of the ongoing Spring Meeting of the
World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund.
He said, "By the middle of the year, we
will start to produce the second
generation of lower denomination
notes, now in paper and not in
polymer."
"My plea is that Nigerians should
exercise patience; it wasn't the fault of
the CBN; it was just because we had to
go back to the drawing board to rethink
the 'Project Cure' in the light of the
wish of the public that we should not go
ahead with the N5,000 notes and lower
denominations.
"We will correct that in the course of the
year. Polymer certainly will be phased
out. In fact, we are phasing out
polymer. No new note is being printed
in polymer now."
Lemo told NAN that when the CBN was
going to introduce the polymer
currencies, its search showed that they
could last longer than ordinary paper
notes.
He said, "However, with the benefit of
hindsight, we probably should not have
dumped polymer because, yes, the
substrate lasts longer, but the in-
consubstrate began to fade; we didn't
realise that at the time of introduction.
"So, part of 'Project Cure' was actually
to move away from polymer substrate
to paper; unfortunately, we had a push-
back because of the issues around
N5,000 note and coins.
"The entire programme was put in
abeyance; otherwise by now, we should
have stopped producing polymer.''
Lemo said the CBN had awarded a
contract for the printing of the higher
denomination notes to a foreign
company because of low capacity at the
Nigerian Printing and Minting Company.
He said the bank would begin to receive
the fresh notes from June.
On the campaign for careful handling of
the naira, Lemo said that it was
unfortunate that it was not successful,
but noted that it was a criminal act to
abuse the naira going by the CBN Act.
The deputy governor said,
"Unfortunately, CBN is not a law
enforcement institution; we left that in
the hands of the law enforcement
institutions and that has not kicked in.
"I still go to parties and see people
spraying money, stepping on money, I
see touts distributing mint-fresh money
that should go to customers.''
Lemo also told NAN that the CBN had
talked to the police to step up
surveillance to reduce their abuse of the
naira, adding that the bank had no right
to arrest people who sold the currency
on the streets.
He said the act of abuse and sale of the
naira by touts had defeated the clean
note policy of the bank, but assured
that efforts were being made to tackle
the problem.

SOURCE: mobile.punchng.com/output.php?link=http://www.punchng.com/business/business-economy/cbn-to-change-polymer-naira-notes-to-paper/

IDIOTS... ..SO ALL THOSE BILLIONS ALLOCATED FOR DESIGN AND PRINTING IS WASTED BECAUSE SUFFICIENT RESEARCH TO KNOW THAT POLYMER WOULD FADE OVER TIME UPON USE WAS NOT CARRIED OUT.. IT WASN'T THE CBN'S FAULT, SO WHOSE WAS IT..NOW ANOTHER SET OF BILLIONS WOULD BE ALLOCATED TO REDESIGN AND PRINT NEW NOTES IN PAPER..JUST PERFECT.. SANUSI IS WORKING ..STANDING OVATION FOR THE SMOOTH CRIMINAL..