The Central Bank of Nigeria has officially refuted claims of any intention to redenominate the country's currency, the naira, effective January 2024.
In a statement issued by Isa AbdulMumin, the Director of Corporate Communications at the CBN, this denial follows recent allegations that the central bank had plans to redenominate the national legal tender.
The CBN emphatically rejected these claims, emphasizing that there are no such plans in place to restructure or redenominate the naira. The statement further highlighted the wide circulation of a text message spreading this narrative, which, in actuality, the CBN had previously disputed.
The statement reads: "The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been drawn to the wide circulation of a text message suggesting that the bank plans to redenominate the country's legal tender, the naira, from January 2024. We are concerned that this narrative, which we had refuted before now, appears to be gaining traction with several debates on the implication of such a policy for the Nigerian economy."
The CBN clarified that the message's authors had manipulated text from an old policy move by a previous CBN governor in 2007 to make it seem recent.
The statement continues, "To avoid doubt, there is currently no plan by the bank to restructure and redenominate the naira. While the Bank may be considering reforms, such are subject to laid-down procedures in line with the provisions of the CBN Act, 2007."
The CBN strongly advised the public to disregard the news report, categorizing it as speculative and designed to incite panic within the country.
