The Chartered Institute of Professional Printers of Nigeria (CIPPON) has tackled Mr. Tunde Lemo – Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on his statement in one of the Nigerian dailies that the decision of CBN to print higher denomination of Nigerian currency notes abroad was due to low capacity at Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Corporation (popularly called The Mint).
Assistant Secretary CIPPON – Mr. Charles Adaramoye in a chat with WHERE To Print said the CBN Governor statement was just an excuse to justify the Bankers Bank intention of printing Nigerian currency abroad. According to Mr. Adaramoye, “I am not sure he attributed the intention of printing Nigerian currency abroad to low production capacity because I can boldly say that the production capacity of capable presses in Nigeria is still underutilized. There are qualified printing presses with enough capacity to print security documents like our currency in this country that are idle. As far as we are concern, talking about production capacity whether for security or commercial printing, there are countless number of presses that have not been used at all due to low patronage of print buyers like CBN. I don’t even think he is in the best position to determine the level of production capacity of Nigeria printing industry, it is only the Institute that is in the best position to make such declaration” he noted.
Speaking on the phase out plan of the polymer notes, Mr. Adaramoye said the body concern for the print of the polymer notes did not take into cognizance the likely pressure the polymer notes will later undergo once in circulation. He added that the polymer notes lack standard finishing process that can prevent it from deterioration while clarifying further that, if high specification were given to the contractors that printed the polymer notes the notes would have been more durable than what we are experiencing now.
“From my technical point of view and experience, I can say the polymer note in use elsewhere in the world are more durable than the ones in Nigeria because of the extra finishing print process that such notes might have been given to ensure its durability” he stressed while reinstating that Nigeria Printers are capable of printing the polymer notes or any currency at all.
In a related development, Mr. Adaramoye disclosed that CIPPON will soon begin State by State sensitizing programmes to printers in Nigeria. He said the programme is designed in such a way that the Institute will visit prominent presses in each state and later hold a Town Hall Meeting with printers in such State where they will be intimated on the activities of the Institute to them likewise their responsibilities to CIPPON.
