The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has warned Nigerians to desist from mutilating, hawking or spraying of the Naira as anyone caught would be made to face the wrath of the law. The Acting Director, Corporate Communication at the apex bank, Isaac Okorafor stated this during an interactive session with NAN on Wednesday in Abuja.
According to NAN, Okorafor called on Nigerians to treat the nation's currency with respect, stressing that under no circumstance should the Naira be squeezed or reduced to a writing pad. He explained that the currency was a symbol of national sovereignty and anyone caught abusing it commits an offence punishable by law.
"It is unfortunate that Nigerians do not take pride in symbols of our national sovereignty. The naira is a symbol of our National sovereignty. We have embarked on sensitization across the nation and we have gone to 28 states of the federation in the last one year trying to tell Nigerians how to identify fake Naira notes, counterfeits notes and how to handle the naira with care".
He lamented that “in some cases, we have distributed wallets so that people can put in their money neatly. For us, it is so frustrating that not many Nigerians are listening to it. We spend a lot of money printing these bank notes and we print a bank note, release a bank note on a Friday, people go to parties they dance on them.
They go to churches and mosque, they squeeze it and put for offering and by Monday it is already old and mutilated and we spend hundreds of billions of Naira to print these notes. It is so unfortunate,’’ he said.
He further stated that the Bank was collaborating with the Police to stop hawking of the Naira.
"Section 20 and 21 of the CBN Act stated that whoever sells, buys, sprays and squeeze the naira will be imprisoned for six months or given an option of N50,000 fine or both. So we are working with the Police to apprehend those violating this law"
