CBN to prosecute naira hawkers

Yekini Jimoh, Ilorin - 02.05.2008

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will, upon conviction, sentence any person caught selling Nigerian currency or mutilating it to six months imprisonment.

The Kwara State Branch Controller of CBN, Mr. Onoriode Olotewo, who disclosed this to newsmen in Ilorin while fielding questions from journalists on the sudden disappearance of coins from the streets, also said whoever was caught abusing the naira or writing on it, upon conviction, would either pay a fine of N50,000 of serve a jail term of six moths or both.

According to him, the CBN Act had made it clear that ‘spraying’, adorning or decorating of the naira notes were offences that would attract punishment upon conviction.

He advised that Nigerians should cultivate the habit of respecting the naira notes by handling them with care.

“When people spray the naira and destroy them, it costs the CBN more money to produce same denomination of the currency, as such, the bank may run at a loss in reproducing such currency,” he said.

On the disappearance of coins, the controller said the policy of the coins had not failed, but that it was just taking time for people to get used to it.