CBN Wakes Up, Says Naira Abusers Face Jail

By Tosin Olatokunbo

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN says it would no-longer fold its arms and watch some Nigerians abuse the national currency, Naira by spraying it at public functions and trampling on it.

The apex bank’s latest decision may have been spurred by trenchant criticism from Nigerians which accused the bank of not enforcing the law against the abuse of the legal tender.

Section 21(3) of CBN Act 2007 outlaws “spraying of, dancing or matching on the Naira or any note issued by the Bank (CBN) during social occasions or otherwise howsoever shall constitute an abuse and defacing of the Naira or such note and shall be punishable under Sub-section 1 of this section.”

The law, in Section 5 (i) goes further to define “Matching” to include “spreading, scattering or littering of any surface with any Naira notes or coins and stepping thereon, regardless of the value, volume, occasion or intent” while in 5(ii) “Spraying” includes adorning, decorating or spraying anything or any person or any part of any person or the person of another with Naira notes or coins or sprinkling or sticking of Naira notes or coins in a similar manner regardless of the amount, occasion or the intent.”

In Section 21(4), it is also a punishable offence for “any person to hawk, sell or otherwise trade in the Naira notes, coins or any other note issued by the Bank.”

The stated offences above are punishable under Sub-section 21(1) which provides, among other things that, a person “shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term not less than six months or to a fine not less than N50,000 or to both such fine and imprisonment.”

In spite the enabling Act which specifies punishment for abusers, not a few Nigerians have accused the CBN of failure to prosecute offenders.

The situation, the bank said, will no longer be allowed to continue describing those abusing the currency as unpatriotic.

The apex bank, in a statement on Tuesday signed by Osita Nwanisobi, Acting Director of Communication, said the warning became necessary in the face of serial abuse of naira. By some Nigerians.

The bank said “The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has again been drawn to the activities of persons, who flagrantly abuse the legal tender by hurling wads of Naira notes in the air and stamping on the currency at social functions.

“There have also been cases where people mishandle the Naira, deface it, hawk the currency at parties and reject the currency in some instances.

“It should be stated that, contrary to the practice of these unpatriotic persons, it is neither cultural nor moral for people to disrespect the currency which citizens trade in”

The apex bank further disclosed that it has put the nation’s security agencies on red alert to arrest and prosecute anyone caught abusing the naira, adding that the naira is the nation’s legal tender that must be handle with care.

“Accordingly, the Central Bank of Nigeria is collaborating with the Nigeria Police, Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit to address the unpatriotic practice,” the statement added.

“We, therefore, warn Nigerians, particularly those at social functions such as birthdays, weddings and funerals, to desist from disrespecting the Naira or risk being arrested by law enforcement agencies,” the CBN said.