A prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of Godwin Emefiele, the immediate former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), told a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court on Tuesday that the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC) produced the redesigned naira notes locally in accordance with the directive of late President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, or EFCC, is prosecuting Emefiele in front of Judge Maryann Anenih in Maitama, Abuja, on four counts that include violating the law and committing an unlawful act that harms the public.
Among other things, Emefiele was accused in the charge, designated CR/264/2024, of violating Section 19 of the CBN Act between October 19, 2022, and March 5, 2023, by permitting the printing of 375,520,000 pieces of color-swapped N1,000 notes at a total cost of N11,052,068,062 without the CBN Board’s recommendation or the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s strict approval, causing harm to the public.
According to the EFCC, the alleged offenses he committed were punishable under Section 123 of the Penal Code, Cap. 89 Laws of the Federation, 1990.
That being said, he entered a not guilty plea to the case.
The seventh prosecution witness, PW7, Chinedu Emere, an EFCC investigator, told the court during the case’s resumed hearing on Tuesday that Emefiele had written a memorandum to former President Buhari on October 6, 2022, requesting permission to redesign, produce, and reissue the redesigned N1,000, N500, N200, and N100 notes while being cross-examined by Emefiele’s attorney, Olalekan Ojo, SAN.
He claimed that in his minute on the memorandum, the former president authorized the redesign of the naira notes but mandated that they be produced locally.
“Emefiele, the defendant, requested clearance for bank notes that were already redesigned and linked to the memorandum.
“The former President ordered that the production be completed.” Minuted: “Approved.” “But to be produced locally,” PW7 informed the judge.
He said Emefiele listed several reasons for the redesign policy, including the high rate of counterfeiting, the growing scarcity of banknotes in circulation, and public hoarding of naira notes.
The witness further stated that in order to produce the redesigned notes, CBN raised bills of settlement to Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company, or NSPMC.
When asked if the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company was the source of the altered notes, the prosecution witness said in the yes when asked to confirm this to the court. This complies with the directive of the president to produce the Nlnaira notes locally.
But he informed the court that although NSPMC made the notes locally, a foreign company called De La Rue redesigned them.
He told the court that CBN paid NSPMC in naira for the production of the notes in 2023, but paid De La Rue in British pounds sterling for the redesign.
The witness added that the features in the notes were also products of the foreign company, confirming that De La Rue was the company that originally designed the naira notes that were undergoing redesign.
He told the court that the investigation was not focused on whether any Nigerian company had ever created naira notes for the Nigerian government and that he could not recall any deputy governors under Emefiele mentioning this to the EFCC investigation team during the course of the investigation.
The witness also mentioned that Buhari eventually introduced the updated notes, but he was unable to recall whether the former president voiced any objections to them.
After the EFCC investigation team was assigned, he told the court, they produced an investigative report.
In the meantime, Justice Anenih ordered the prosecution to provide the investigative report to the defense in order to support its defense, even though the prosecuting attorney, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, objected to Emefiele’s attorney’s request.
The case’s next hearing was therefore postponed until Tuesday, February 10, 2026.
