Nigeria to launch N100 centenary note on Wednesday
President Goodluck Jonathan will on
Wednesday unveil the specially designed commemorative N100 banknote by
the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The CBN disclosed this in a statement on Monday in Abuja.
The
bank said the commemorative note was part of its contribution to the
centenary celebration and was in line with its mandate of issuing legal
tender currencies for the country.
The
statement read in part, “The choice of the N100 denomination is to mark
the centenary celebration of Nigeria and is consistent with best global
practices for central banks around the world during the celebration of
national events.
“Part of the features
of the commemorative banknote is the inscription of the theme of the
centenary celebration: ‘One Nigeria, Great Promise’ as a micro-text.
“While
retaining the portrait of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo on the front,
the new note features Nigerian traditional dancers at the back. The
commemorative note comes in different dominant colours.”
The
new note, according to the statement, is also designed to incorporate
additional security features for
digital communication, protection
against counterfeiting, tolerance to the tropics and ease of recognition
of genuineness.
The bank stated that
the commemorative note was for the purpose of the centenary celebration
and would circulate alongside the existing N100 note.
It
will be recalled that the bank issued a commemorative N50 polymer note
to mark Nigeria’s 50th independence anniversary in 2010.
The N100 note bearing the portrait of Awolowo was first issued in December 1999.