The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has begun clamping down on naira note abusers across the country. This is according to Isaac Okorafor, the director in charge of the Corporate Communications Department of the apex bank.
According to him, while the CBN continues exploring deeper measures to stabilise in the financial system, it is offensive to spray the naira at parties because doing that amounts to “abusing the country’s symbol of sovereignty.”
The CBN director, therefore, stressed as follows;
“We have begun the clampdown on the abuse of naira notes. It is a very big offence to spray our naira notes. It is the symbol of our national sovereignty.
“The law is very clear on it. When you abuse the notes by spraying them, you get a jail term, or a N50,000 fine or both.
“We have told banks to assemble all the old or mutilated naira notes for reprinting. We have given banks three months to do that.”
Aside from spraying of the currency at social events on individuals, the apex bank also made it known that hawking the naira notes is another form of abuse the public should desist from. Offenders would be punished accordingly.
According to Okorafor, it costs Nigeria a lot of money to print naira notes. Therefore, it is wrong for anyone to abuse it.
The CBN director further stated that “the CBN Act 2007 outlaws any form of abuse by anybody, either by spraying, squeezing, dancing upon the naira or writing on it.” Anyone found guilty of such crimes could face up to six months in prison.
The apex bank had disclosed plans to establish mobile courts in partnership with law enforcement agencies and the judiciary. This is with the intention of combating the rising incidents of naira hawking and other forms of crimes against Nigeria’s legal tender.