President, CIIN,    Mr. Wole Adetimehin


Nnamdi Duru

Insurance professionals in the country under the auspices of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) have condemned the plan by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to introduce the
N5,000 note into the economy.

According to institute, the introduction of such a big denomination of the national currency would send a wrong signal on the health of the economy even as it would cause inflation in the country.

The Head of Corporate Affairs in the institute, Mr. Joseph Obah, made the position of the institute known in a statement in Lagos recently.

According to him, the President of the institute, Mr. Wole Adetimehin, condemned the initiative saying the proposed issuance of N5,000 note by CBN was “unpopular and unthinkable.”
The president was said to have maintained that “the N5,000 note would send a wrong signal that all was  well with the nation’s economy.”

“It would amount to aiding inflation in a nation whose citizens are groaning under the burden of an inflationary trend calculated in geometrical proportions over the years,” Adetimehin reasoned.

The institute’s president, according to Obah, wondered why the apex bank would conceive such an idea at a time it should be pre-occupied with measures aimed at actualising its canvassed cashless policy.

“CBN’s cashless policy is well conceived and commendable but it is now being contradicted by the proposed issuance of the N5,000 note,” the CIIN boss noted.

“The public outcry against the move by the nation’s apex bank to churn out N5,000 note has continued to make the news, with most critics calling on the Federal Government to forestall what would amount to a pitfall in the nation’s monetary policy.

“If public opinion is anything to go by, the move should be thwarted and the CBN made to a rest this plan,” Adetimehin said.
CIIN has continued to provide the platform for an annual professionals’ forum engendering the body’s contribution to the upliftment of service delivery, skills sharpening and the acquisition of fresh insights by the professionals in global best practices and international standards.

The institute’s membership include over 3,000 Fellows and Associates who make up the core professionals and technocrats driving insurance business in the country and who are eligible to attend this programme.

The institute, by virtue of its statutory powers via Decree 22(now Act) of 1993, is charged with the responsibility of determining the standard of skill and knowledge required by insurance professionals for the effective and efficient discharge of their services as risk managers.