House wants CBN to re-enforce spending of coins

The House of Representatives has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to re-enforce the use of coins as legal tender in Nigeria.

This followed the adoption of a motion moved by a member from Bauchi state Mr Umar Lawal at plenary.

The lawmaker recalled that, as part of the economic reforms under the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, N1 and 50 kobo coins were reintroduced, while a new N2 coin was also introduced.

Lawal however, lamented that despite the huge budgetary sum that was expended by the Federal Government in the production of coins as part of the legal tender, the coins seem to be extinct at the moment.

He said, “The day-to-day business transactions of ordinary Nigerians have been significantly affected as the lack of coins and other lower denominations have resulted in prices being summed up to the nearest naira equivalent, a situation that can best be described as inflation in economic terms.

The lawmaker observed that while other countries make use of coins for their daily financial transactions, the Nigerian coins comprising have not been fully utilized in that regard.

According to him, injecting low denominations and coins into the economy will go a long way in curbing price inflation and stabilizing the economy.