What Nigerians Are Saying About Redesigned Naira Notes

Earlier today (Wednesday), President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled the newly redesigned N200, N500, and N1,000 naira Notes at the Federal Executive Council and the new look of the legal tender has set social media abuzz.

The redesigned Notes have received mixed reactions as some commended the simplicity of the new design while others believed the Central Bank of Nigeria lacked creativity as the currency looked like they were poorly edited versions of the old Notes.

The major difference between the new Notes and the old ones is the colour. The new N200 Notes have a toned down magenta colour, while the new N500 Notes now have a light green colour and the new N1,000 Note is blue in colour.

The new Notes have the portraits of the same elder Nigerian politicians and founding fathers and the same inscriptions and security features on them.

The new Notes also retained the Arabic inscriptions despite speculations that they would be taken off.

Below are some reactions from Nigerian on Twitter about the new notes:

Ex Senator Shehu Sani, who represented Kaduna Central took to his Twitter account, @ShehuSani, to berate the redesigned notes saying, “If it’s naira colour, the CBN should have just engaged Snapchat.”

Another Twitter user, @VictorIsrael_ expressed his displeasure in pidgin saying, “This must be a joke. Emefiele wetin be this? Shey you dye our money ni?

Also, @drpenking blamed the outcome of the notes on the CBN Governor saying, “These people just dipped the old Naira notes inside Hypo bleach 3 times, made some incantations and poured libation, then called it new Naira notes.”

For @godsound_OG, he outlined the steps he believed the CBN took to achieve the new notes tweeting, “Scan the picture, import to photoshop, add colour overlay, reduce opacity, Voila!! New currency. This is an insult to us as a people”.

Similarly, @its_daqueen expressed her views simply tweeting, “They are so ugly. No one asked for this”

In the same vein, @obiremiodunayo tweeted, “So you people just changed the ink in the printer and that’s ‘redesign’?”

A few users however, were of the opinion that the new notes were a positive thing.

For @DEferode, he shared how much he likes the new design saying, “I like these new notes for real. They look simple and easy to make.”

@Aburter responded to a comment condemning the new notes tweeting, “Haven’t you read the reasons behind the redesign? What of the fake notes printed in 2022 that are in circulation? It is done already, no amount of condemnation from haters can change it. Thanks Mr President and CBN Governor.”

Others pointed out the similarity between the new naira note designs and the old 10, 20 and 50 naira notes.

@the_dumebi_ expressed her deep displeasure tweeting, “I personally hate that we just laugh over everything in Nigeria. It helps us cope, I do it too but its holding us back. Let’s not even begin to discuss the psychology in the parallel colour change to help our minds accommodate the devaluation. This parallel isn’t coincidence.”

@DDukeMedia tweeted in pidgin saying, “Wetin New? Abeg this our new naira note dey look like Snapchat filter for my eye abi them bleach the old money? The
N200 is looking like N10, the N500 looking like N20 and the N1,000 looking like N50.”

@kaynis1, wondered if the similarity was a way to hint at a coming devaluation of the Naira in general.

“The new 1000 naira Note carries a colour looks like the first issue 50 naira note. New 500 naira carries the colour that looks like the 1980s 20 naira note. New 200 naira carries very similar colours to the 1983 10 naira note that buhari redesigned. Coming Naira devaluation?” he tweeted.