The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has condemned the rate at which Nigerians deface, squeeze, spray, violate and even sell the naira notes.
CBN threatened that “abuse of the currency attracts a penalty of not less than six months in jail or a fine of not less than N50,000 or both.”
An Assistant Director at the Currency Operations Department, Aladeen Badejo, revealed this on Thursday during the commencement of the CBN two-day sensitization fair held in Abeokuta.
Badejo who stressed the need to handle the banknotes with care and dignity expressed concern over the huge amount being spent on reprinting them.
“Abuse of the currency attracts a penalty of not less than six months or a fine of not less than N50,000 or both.”
In a statement on Thursday, CBN’s spokesman, Ugochukwu Okorafor said; “If a celebrant is dancing and you spray him/her, you may go to jail from the party venue, because the law enforcement agents will be there, waiting to arrest you.
“The law enforcement agencies must catch offenders and take them to court. Our (CBN) collaboration with the police will intensify as we move to implement the mobile court for offenders,”.
The CBN spokesman pleaded with citizens to make sure that monies being gifted to their loved ones either in an event or not are properly enveloped to avoid abusing the note.
