Sanusi to Islamic scholars: Emefiele won’t remove Arabic inscriptions from new naira notes

The 14th Emir of Kano and former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Muhammadu Sanusi II, has said the Arabic inscriptions known as ‘Ajami’ will not be removed from the redesigned naira notes.

Sanusi also said the N5,000 note proposed during his time at the apex bank is still under consideration.

Sanusi who spoke on Monday, said Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), had confirmed to him that the inscriptions will remain on the redesigned currency.

Ajami is an Arabic derivative of Hausa.

The CBN, on Wednesday, announced that it redesigned some new naira notes.

The apex bank said the new notes include N200, N500 and N1000, adding that the new design and issues will be effective from mid-December 2022.

The development had sparked rumours on social media that the currency redesign was a ploy by the federal government to remove the Ajami inscription from the notes.

However, refuting the rumours, Sanusi urged religious leaders to desist from spreading unverified and misleading information to the public.

Sanusi particularly appealed to Islamic preachers to always verify and seek clarification on issues that are not clear to them, instead of acting on unsubstantiated claims.

“There has been speculation going round about the change of some naira notes. I heard various scholars commenting, with some implying that the Ajami on the naira notes would be removed,” he said.

“I want to use this medium to authoritatively confirm to the Muslim ummah that there are no such plans.

“Since the issue came up, we have spoken to some people in the Central Bank, and they confirmed to me that such a plan is non-existent.

“When the misconception became widespread, I spoke to the CBN governor himself, and he also confirmed to me that there is no plan whatsoever to remove the Ajami.

“So, I want to appeal to Islamic scholars to please stop acting on unsubstantiated reports.

“I know some of the scholars making these comments are doing so without investigating the information brought to them.”

Sanusi also claimed that plans to introduce N5,000 notes have not been forgotten.

Plans to introduce the N5,000 note in 2012 were resisted, forcing the CBN to shelve the idea.

He recalled how attempt by the CBN to introduce N5,000 note was resisted, stressing “considering the quantum of cash Nigerians carry, the issue is something that can not be avoided in future”.

In 2012, Sanusi as CBN Governor, while justifying the introduction of higher denominations said: “inflation in Nigeria is a monetary phenomenon. In some countries such as Singapore, Germany and Japan, the highest denominations are 10,000 SGD, 500Euro and Yen 10,000, respectively.

“These denominations have relatively high dollar equivalent. The levels of inflation are, however, low at 2.8, 1.1 and -0.7, respectively as at 2010.

“We believe that the introduction of a higher bill would complement the bank’s cashless policy as it would substantially reduce the volume of currency in circulation, particularly in the long term.”