The House of Reps has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to reinforce the use of coins as legal tender in the country.
The resolution followed the adoption of a motion by Rep. Muda Umar (APC-Bauchi) at the plenary on Tuesday, March 22.
Umar in his motion said that the former CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, had on Feb. 28, 2007, reissued N50, N20, N10, and N5 banknotes with new designs, as part of economic reforms.
He said that N1 and 50 kobo were also coined, while a new N2 coin was introduced.
Umar said, however, that coins seemed to vanish after a while. This was in spite of the fact that huge sums of money was used by the Federal Government to produce them.
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The Reps said that the daily business transactions of ordinary Nigerians have been significantly affected by the absence of the coins which were the lowest denominations of the country’s currency.
“Lack of coins and other lower denominations, have resulted in prices of goods being summed up to the nearest naira equivalent; a situation that has contributed to inflation in the country,” he said.
He expressed concern that other countries make use of coins for their daily financial transactions.
“I believe that injecting low denominations and coins into the economy will go a long way in curbing price inflation; and stabilising the economy,” he said.
The House of Reps, therefore, urged the CBN to ensure that banks complied with the use of coins; and mandated its Committee on Banking and Currency to ensure compliance.
Meanwhile, Gov. Bello Matawalle of Zamfara, on Monday, March 22, expressed sadness over the recent bandits’ attack on communities in Bukkuyum; and Maru Local Government areas of the state.
Matawalle stated this in a condolence message. This was issued by his Special Adviser on Public Enlightenment, Media and Communications, Malam Zailani Bappa.
He expressed the regret that the ‘dastardly and cowardly attack’ was coming at a time when peace was fast improving in the state.
The governor, however, assured that the recent attack would not deter his administration’s efforts at achieving total peace in the state.
