CBN Board Left Out as Emefiele Faces Trial Over Controversial Naira Redesign

CBN Board Kept in the Dark as Naira Redesign Drama Unfolds

When the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced a massive overhaul of the Naira redesign in 2022, few realized the chaos brewing behind the scenes. In recent court proceedings, the messy details are tumbling out, painting a picture of confusion, ignored protocols, and alleged overreach by the then-CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele.

On the witness stand, Kingsley Obiora, former Deputy Governor at the CBN, revealed a shocking detail — neither he nor the rest of the board had any hand in recommending the redesign to President Muhammadu Buhari. Instead, they only became aware of the whole project on December 15, 2022, when Emefiele informed them that Buhari had already given the green light. It wasn’t the sort of inclusive, transparent process you might expect when dealing with something as significant as the currency every Nigerian holds in their hands.

So how did things get to this point? Apparently, Emefiele initially wanted to announce the redesign back in October 2022 at a flashy Lagos event marking the e-Naira’s anniversary. His deputy governors pumped the brakes, urging him to give them time to really look at what was being proposed. Publicly, it seemed like the CBN was unified. Internally, the board had barely been in the loop — and certainly hadn’t signed off on the plan.

Ignoring Presidential Directives and Inflated Costs

But the internal drama didn’t stop with communication problems. Chinedu Eneanya, an investigator from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), dropped another bombshell: the Naira redesign that finally hit the streets wasn’t even the version President Buhari had approved. The official design came with advanced security upgrades — think color-shifting features and QR codes to make counterfeiting harder.

Instead, according to prosecutors, Emefiele swapped in a different design without approval, completely ignoring the specifications set out by Buhari. The deputy governors backed up these claims, saying that Emefiele pushed ahead in a way that not only disregarded proper channels but led to unnecessary spending. Printing new notes isn’t cheap, and Nigeria—already wrestling with economic challenges—ended up footing a bigger bill than necessary for notes that were supposed to help clean up corruption but instead triggered mass confusion and shortages at ATMs and banks across the country.

• The redesigned notes dropped into circulation with little warning for citizens.
• Long queues and desperate crowds became scenes outside banks as people scrambled to swap old notes.
• Small business owners and farmers, often relying on cash, were hit the hardest.

Emefiele now faces multiple charges, ranging from illegal redesign of currency to ignoring legal directives and financial mismanagement. His trial is about more than just swapping colors on banknotes or missed emails between board members. It’s exposing deep cracks between presidential orders and real, functional oversight inside Nigeria’s big institutions. If this saga has made anything clear, it’s the importance of getting all the right people at the table before overhauling something that touches every Nigerian’s daily life.