CBN vows to stop open burning of expired naira notes
Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, said on Thursday in Abuja that it would, henceforth, stop burning expired naira notes in the open environment.
Aisha Mahmoud, the Special Adviser to the Governor, said this while making a presentation at a ceremony organised by the Ministry of Environment as part of activities to mark the 2014 World Environment Day (WED).
The World Environment Day is celebrated annually on June 5. The theme for 2014 is “Raise your voice not the sea level”.
Mr. Mahmoud said that the CBN would strengthen collaboration with other agencies in the environment sector, to ensure that expired naira notes were transformed into briquettes.
According to her, the production cycle of the naira notes highly impacts on the environment and as such, “we need to address the challenging effects to protect the environment.
“This is against the backdrop that burning of expired naira notes emit gases that deplete the environment and capable of affecting socio-economic activities.
“The financial sector must ensure that whatever we do does not impact negatively on the environment.
“We need to do a balancing act to ensure that what we do does not impact on the ability of the bigger generation to meet their own needs,’’ she said.
Ms. Mahmoud added that the financial sector had developed a sustainable banking system to strike a balance, to ensure that the economic growth of the country was sustained.
She said that more efforts would be focused on the oil and gas sector as well as the power and agriculture sector, to ensure adequate compliance.
Ms. Mahmoud said the Central Bank would donate electronics to schools as part of its social responsibility towards reducing e-waste in the country. She said CBN operations would embrace the principles of safeguarding human rights, environment and social governance.
According to her, the apex bank operations would also encourage less travel, but encourage tele-conference as a means of reducing emissions from transportation.
(NAN)