An economist, Prof. Akpan Ekpo, on Tuesday in Lagos said that the agreement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to mint the Gambian Dalasi currency was a healthy development.

Ekpo, a former Director-General, West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM) said that Nigeria would do a good job for the Gambia.

According to him, Nigeria has a good Security Printing and Minting company to deliver.

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“It is a very healthy development! You know why, instead of that country going outside the West Africa sub region to print, they will now spend the money in the sub region. That is looking inward.

“Also, Nigeria has a wonderful Security Printing and Minting Company to handle the job, at the same time, we will make money because we will not be printing for free.

“It will be income for the CBN as well as income for Nigeria,” he said.

The Governor, Central Bank of the Gambia, Buah Saidy, had made the currency printing proposal when he led a delegation to the CBN on June 15.

Saidy said that his country was running low on currency and wants to learn how to manage their currency need by leveraging Nigeria’s wealth of experience.

He said that Gambia currently had an order for two years currency minting deal abroad but is considering also minting from Nigeria.

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said that Nigeria had a lot of capacity in currency printing having been minting since the 1960s.

He assured Saidy that the CBN would assist in printing the dalasi for Gambia, adding that “we can be extremely competitive in terms of cost.