The Executive Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL), J. Aloysius Tarlue, Jr., led a high-level CBL delegation to Abuja, Nigeria on Tuesday, May 11, 2021 for a one-day working visit to the Central Bank of Nigeria.
In his welcome remarks, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin I. Emefiele, welcomed the CBL delegation, stressing the need for the two central banks to work together to promote trade between Liberia and Nigeria, as the CBN was doing with the Bank of Sierra Leone. He informed the delegation of progress that the CBN has made in working out modalities with some air and shipping lines for facilitating trade between Nigeria, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
For his part, Executive Governor Tarlue, Jr. thanked his Nigerian counterpart for the leadership role CBN continues to play in the sub-region for the achievement of the aspiration of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ). Executive Governor Tarlue underscored the good working relationship between His Excellency, Dr. George Manneh Weah, Sr. and His Excellency, President MuhammaduBuhari of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The working visit was intended for the delegation to learn from the experience of CBN with regard to currency reform and management, including infusion, withdrawal and destruction of mutilated and old banknotes, as part of the currency replacement strategy of Liberia which is being implemented by CBL.
During the visit, the delegation held an intensive and interactive session with senior officials of CBN, including Deputy Governor for Economic Policy, Dr. Kingsley Obiora, Deputy Governor for Operations, Mr. FolashodunAdebisiShonubi, and the Director of Currency Management Department.
The delegation was taken on a guided tour to the Nigerian Security, Printing & Minting Company (NSPMC), which is one of the four (4) state-owned printing and minting companies in Africa, which include South Africa, Algeria, and Egypt. The NSPMC was established since 1963, with De La Rue, a global currency printing company, as one of its shareholders.
At the same time, Governor Emefiele and Executive Governor Tarlue signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for Technical Assistance & Capacity Building (TACB) between the CBN and CBL. The TACB covers a range of focus areas, including but not limited to, (1) Monetary Policy Operations, (2) Currency Management; (3) Statistical and Data Analysis; (4) Macroeconomic Forecasting & Policy Analysis; (5) Collaborative/Joint Research; and (6) AML/CFT and Cyber Security Training, among others.
Meanwhile, the CBN authorities have assured the CBL of their full commitment to share their currency management and operations experience with the CBL’s staff, and Executive Governor Tarlue, in his closing remarks, stressed the need for a speedy implementation of the TA program.
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The working visit to Nigeria is one of the several planned visits by the CBL aimed at learning from the experiences of currency reforms by other central banks in the sub-region.
Other the CBL delegation comprised of Hon. Nyemadi D. Pearson, Deputy Governor for Operations, Mr. Mussah A. Kamara, Senior Technical Advisor to the Executive Governor, Mr. William Jlopleh, Director of Banking, Mr. Bushanda C. George, Chief-of-Staff and Cllr. Joseph K. Jallah, Senior Legal Advisor to the Executive Governor.
