Local printing of N1,000 notes to start this year – NSPMC boss http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200903053544079
By Jonah Iboma
Published: Thursday, 5 Mar 2009
The country’s highest currency denomination, the N1,000 note, will soon be printed locally, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Corporation Plc, Mr. Ehi Okoyomon, has said.

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Minister of State for Finance, Mr. Remi Babalola

Speaking at a media conference on Wednesday after a tour of the facilities of the corporation in Lagos by the House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Currency, Okoyomon said that necessary preparation for the local printing of the currency had been completed.

He added that the vital personnel had been trained and the machinery for the printing of the denomination put in place for the printing of the notes.

Currently, the corporation locally prints all other currency notes including N20, N50, N100 and N500 notes.

Once the NSPMC achieves the local printing of all denominations of the country’s currency, it would be the first time for a long while that this had been done.

The Central Bank of Nigeria had in 2005 taken over 77 per cent controlling shares of the Mint in what the CBN Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, said was done as part of a strategic agenda to give the country have a robust financial system.

The takeover led to the restructuring of the Mint and the installation of new printing lines that was completed in 2007 with high security features. This was inaugurated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Since then the corporation has been able to print a significant percentage of the currency notes needed in the country.

Soludo said the takeover of the company had to be done because it was supplying less than 40 per cent of the currency needs in Nigeria. He added that as the only currency printing press in Central and West Africa, CBN was determined to ensure that it succeeded.

Meanwhile, the House committee has expressed displeasure at the continuous printing of the new electronic passports abroad, especially considering that the NSPMC had some of the best facilities in the continent to offer such printing services.

According to the Chairman of House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Currency, Mr. Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi, the issue would be looked into by the National Assembly with a view to reversing the trend.

He expressed satisfaction with the facilities of the NSPMC and said it was regrettable that some government establishments were still printing some of their security jobs abroad.

He said, “There is no justification whatsoever, except maybe for the sake of costs, why ministries, departments and agencies should not be printing their security jobs with the NSPMC.”

He added that it was a mark of patriotism for MDAs to print their jobs in Nigeria.

He noted that with the facilities that the committee had seen, the Mint had the capabilities to be the flagship security printing press in West Africa