President Bola Tinubu has mandated the immediate removal of the Managing Director of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc (NSPM), Ahmed Halilu, alongside four other top executives. Mr. Halilu, appointed in September 2022 by former President Muhammadu Buhari, is the brother of former First Lady Aisha Buhari.
The officials affected by this directive are:
Ado Danjuma, Executive Director, Corporate Services
Chris Orewa, Executive Director, Operations (Lagos Factory)
Tunji Kazeem, Executive Director, Security Documents
Victoria Irabor, Company Secretary
In the interim, Abubakar Minjibir, the Executive Director of Operations at the Abuja factory, has been appointed as Acting Managing Director.
Efforts to reach CBN spokesperson Sidi Hakama for comments were unsuccessful. However, a central bank official confirmed the directive, stating that the affected officials were asked to leave immediately.
This significant shakeup comes months after Jim Obazee, the special investigator appointed by President Tinubu to probe the Central Bank of Nigeria’s affairs under the Buhari administration, submitted his report. The report highlighted NSPM’s involvement in the controversial currency redesign policy implemented by the former Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele.
According to Mr. Obazee’s findings, Mr. Halilu was tasked with redesigning and reconfiguring the old naira notes. Mr. Halilu warned that the complexity of the new features, such as the positioning of the watermark, QR codes, and different numbering styles, would require significant time. Despite this, Mr. Emefiele contracted De La Rue, a UK-based company, to handle the redesign for GBP 205,000. NSPM’s subsequent printing of the redesigned currency resulted in an unprecedented currency shortage in the country.
