The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) tweeted Saturday night that the redesign of the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes was 12 years overdue, in defense of the CBN's decision to redesign the notes.

In its decision to redesign certain of Nigeria's naira notes, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has stated that it complied with the law and followed the proper procedures during the whole process. While defending its choice to redesign N200, N500, and N1,000 notes, Nigeria's top bank claimed on its Twitter account on Saturday evening that the redesign of the naira was 12 years overdue. This was done while defending the decision to redesign the notes themselves.
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, made the announcement on Wednesday that the apex bank intends to redesign parts of the naira banknotes, but the move has been met with opposition since it was made public. Mr. Osita Nwanisobi, a spokesperson for the Central Bank of Nigeria, defended the move, saying that the new series of N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes are legal tender in accordance with sections 2(b), 18(a), and 19(a)(b) of the CBN Act 2007. The CBN also requested and received written clearance from President Muhammadu Buhari for the redesign, production, release, and circulation of the new banknotes.

"The CBN invites Nigerians to embrace the currency redesign initiative which is in the general benefit of every citizen of the nation," the central bank stated in a statement. Anyone who has the best interests of the nation in mind should do everything they can to prevent the practice of storing considerable quantities of cash in banknotes outside of the vaults of commercial banks.

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"CBN waited too long given it had to wait 20 years for a redesign, but the worldwide norm for central banks is to create, manufacture, and distribute new local legal money every five to eight years."