President Goodluck Jonathan has agreed to reverse his administration’s plan to introduce the N5000 note.
This was disclosed on Wednesday by the Special Adviser to the president on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati.
The currency restructuring recently announced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would have seen the unveiling of the N5000 note as the highest naira denomination while lower currencies – N5, N10 and N20 – were to be converted to coins.
Weeks of public outrage criticizing the policy culminated in the Senate and the House of Representatives, approving separate resolutions on Tuesday, demanding that the plan be suspended.
Mr Abati, responding to inquiries, said “the introduction is being suspended for now to enable the CBN do more enlightenment on the issue.”
He said President Jonathan has directed that the implementation of the new N5000 note be suspended for now.
“This is to enable the apex bank to do more in terms of enabling Nigerians understand why it proposed it in the first place,” he said.
“For now, the full implementation is on hold,” he added