The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Saturday said it followed due process in its decision to redesign some denominations of the naira, insisting that the exercise was twelve years overdue.

CBN made this known via its Twitter account, urging Nigerians to back the measure as it was in the overall interest of the nation.

This is coming after recent comments by Mrs Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, that the ministry wasn’t consulted by the CBN before the decision was taken.

“CBN insists it followed the law, due process for Naira redesign, says exercise is 12 years overdue,” CBN tweeted.

“The CBN urges Nigerians to support the currency redesign project, which is in the overall interest of every citizen of the country.

“CBN had tarried for too long considering that it had to wait 20 years to carry out a redesign, whereas the standard practice globally was for central banks to redesign, produce and circulate new local legal tender every five to eight years.

“President Muhammadu Buhari approves redesign, production, and circulation of new series of N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes.”