A prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, told a High Court in Abuja that the redesigned naira notes were printed locally by the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC), following a directive from former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The witness, Chinedu Emere, an EFCC investigator and the seventh prosecution witness (PW7), stated that Emefiele wrote a memo dated October 6, 2022, seeking approval to redesign and reissue the N1,000, N500, N200 and N100 notes. According to him, Buhari approved the request with a clear minute: “Approved. But to be produced locally.”
He confirmed that NSPMC handled the production of the notes in Nigeria in compliance with that directive. However, he noted that the actual redesign of the notes was done by the foreign company, De La Rue, which also designed the original naira notes. Payments for the redesign were made in British Pounds, while local production was paid for in naira.
Emefiele is being prosecuted by the EFCC on four counts, including allegedly approving the printing of 375,520,000 pieces of N1,000 notes without the recommendation of the CBN Board and strict presidential approval, an act said to have caused injury to the public. He has pleaded not guilty. The case was adjourned to February 10, 2026.
