The 2022 Naira Redesign Programme in Nigeria: Implications on the Local Economy and Financial History
Publication Date: 14/04/2023
Author(s): Yasin Abubakar (Ph.D), Umar Aminu Yandaki.
Volume/Issue: Volume 6 , Issue 2 (2023)
Abstract:
To many Nigerians, the 2022 Currency Redesign Programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) came through as disruptive and unnecessary. This is more so because the programme attempted to force Nigeria’s jump into a cashless economy, creating an artificial cash crunch, unprecedented in the country’s history. This paper offers an analysis of the nature of the 2022 currency redesign programme. It demonstrates the historical transformation of modern currency in Nigeria since the country’s independence in the year 1960, arguing that the 2022 Naira redesign is not unnecessary and also not as revolutionary as many Nigerians understood it to be. The paper, nonetheless, analyzes how the programme, which was meant to ensure effective currency management, paradoxically became devastating to the local economy within a very short time span. The paper is based on primary and secondary sources of historical data.
Keywords:
Currency Redesign, Central Bank, Local Economy, Financial History.
