In 2022, a controversy erupted in Nigeria after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), under the leadership of then-Governor Godwin Emefiele, announced plans to redesign and introduce new versions of three denominations of banknotes: N200, N500, and N1000.

The existing notes were to remain valid until January 31, 2023. This move sparked widespread debate and discussion across the country.

According to Emefiele, the decision was reached due to persisting concerns around the amount of naira notes outside the banking system.

Over one year after, check by SaharaReporters shows that the CBN policy which was reported to have gulped over N74 billion has failed.

Already, there are lamentations by Point of Sale machine vendors that they are short on cash.

Checks show that in January 2024, the currency in circulation stood at 3.65 million while the currency outside of banks stood at 3.28 million, representing 89%.

In February, the currency in circulation stood at 3.69 million naira notes, while the currency outside the bank stood at 3.41 million notes representing 92%.

As of March, the notes in circulation were 3.86 million while the ones outside banks stood at 3.62 million, representing 93%.

In April 2024, the currency in circulation stood at 3.92 million notes. Out of this amount, 3.60 million were outside the banks. The figure for May stood at 3.96 million notes while 3.7 million notes out of them were outside the banking system, representing 93.4%.

As of October 2022, when the CBN announced the policy on naira redesign, the currency in circulation stood at 3.2 million notes while 2.8 million notes were outside the banking system, representing 84%.

As of November 2022, the currency in circulation stood at 3.1 million notes while those outside the banking systems were 2.6 million notes, according CBN data. This represents 83%.

In October 2022, 84% of the naira currency was outside the banking system, compared to 93.4% in April 2024, indicating an increase of 9.4 percentage points in the proportion of currency in circulation outside of commercial banks' vaults over the 18-month period.