By Ishaya Ibrahim
From January 2023, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would begin a series of policies that would impact Nigerians and the economy.
Some of the policies include the planned unified payment system, which means bank customers will only need One ATM Card to make transactions across the board.
There will also be political changes that would herald 2023, which will come with economic policies and programmes that would shape the country’s economy.
Whoever succeeds the incumbent government will have some tough economic decisions to make which would most likely be spearheaded by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Though the CBN’s statutory functions are primarily monetary, its decisions affect the economic well-being of Nigeria and Nigerians.
Going by recent events, here are some of the major policies of the apex bank that would kickstart from January 2023.
The National Domestic Card Scheme
Beginning January 16, the CBN in partnership with the Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBBS) would seek to unify payments under the National Domestic Card Scheme.
Nigeria’s apex bank and the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), including the Bankers Committee, will float a national card scheme to enhance the payment system in Nigeria.
Vanguard reports that the Managing Director of NIBSS, Premier Owoh, stated this during the Committee’s meeting on Thursday, October 20, 2022.
Owoh said the project has been approved and is the brainchild of the CBN.
He said part of the project of the apex bank is that the National Domestic Card Scheme will be designed to help accelerate acceptance and efficiency and reduce operating costs of cards in the country.
According to him, the card will be configured to manage the payment ecosystem and improve payment across Nigeria.
New banknotes take over
Also, in January 2023 the newly redesigned naira notes would replace the old ones.
The CBN had announced on October 26, 2022, that it would embark on the redesigning of the new naira notes.
The notes were unveiled by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, November 23, 2022, in Abuja.
CBN stated that it would redesign N200, 500 and N1,000 notes and that they would begin circulating on December 15, 2022.
The apex bank said the old notes would cease to be legal by January 2023.
