Many development economists have argued that President Muhammadu Buhari revealed a fundamental flaw on the side of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) when he approved the recirculation of old N200 notes.
To the experts, the meaning of the approval is that CBN did not mint enough N200 cash in the first instance.
They argued further that if the apex bank had minted enough new notes and circulated same accordingly, there would have been no need for these entire cash crunch associated crisis and nationwide violence.
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had in his early Thursday morning national broadcast on paragraph 16 and 17 averred that “16. To further ease the supply pressures, particularly to our citizens, I have given approval to the CBN that the old N200 bank notes be released back into circulation and that it should also be allowed to circulate as legal tender with the new N200, N500, and N1000 banknotes for 60 days from February 10, 2023, to April 10, 2023, when the old N200 notes cease to be legal tender.
“17. In line with Section 20(3) of the CBN Act 2007, all existing old N1000 and N500 notes remain redeemable at the CBN and designated points.”
