The new N100 commemorative notes which would have been unveiled by President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday, November 5, 2014, was shifted due to the president’s visit to Burkina Faso for ECOWAS meditation talks between West African leaders.
The new N100 naira notes produced by the apex bank to mark the nation’s centenary anniversary was finally unveiled on Wednesday, November 12, 2014 by the President at the at the Presidential Villa, Abuja during the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting in the company of Vice President Namadi Sambo and the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.
The apex bank’s boss had after the formal introduction disclosed that the money was introduced to mark Nigeria’s 100 years since amalgamation in 1914.
He observed that Nigeria had joined a host of countries who had previously introduced new currencies to mark some occasions including Morocco, Russia and Costa Rica and so on.
The new note was produced with the most advanced security features in the world, disclosed Emefiele who further listed the design platforms on which the note was made to include security, durability, attractiveness, cultural heritage and transformation.
The president and minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,both lauded the apex bank for initiating such an idea.
The new note has a special QRC code behind it which when scanned with smartphones directs users to a website where the nation’s history is written.
Meanwhile, Okonjo-Iweala questioned the amount the CBN expended to produce the notes and yearned to also know if it could be produced locally, a question which was dismissed by the president on the excuse that it would be answered when the council gets a memorandum regarding the issue.
