Nigeria Central Bank don confam say money bouquet now be form of currency abuse.
Di Central Bank bin tweet on Friday, 10 February as part of dia efforts to create awareness about abuse of di currency.
For di tweet, di Apex bank bin list oda forms of naira abuse as;
- spraying
- selling
- squeezing and
- defacing of di naira notes.
CBN say make citizens report cases of naira abuse for di kontri wit one post wey say, “E be your civic duty to protect di naira. Report naira abuse today.”
It is your civic duty to protect the Naira. Report Naira abuse today.#StopNairaAbuse #RespectTheNaira #BePatriotic pic.twitter.com/CN4SZuIEUT
— Central Bank of Nigeria (@cenbank) February 10, 2023
Dem also put toll-free hot-lines wia pipo fit reach dem to report those kain activities.
Last week, CBN bin tok say dem go begin prosecute abusers of di currency.
Dem say dem go collaborate wit oda regulatory and law enforcement agencies to clamp down on offenders.
Punishment for pipo wey abuse naira
According to di Central Bank of Nigeria, anybodi wey abuse di naira go dey punished under di law in different ways.
- Di pesin fit chop fine
- Di abuser also fit land for prison
- Di pesin fit also chop both fine and imprisonment
- Di agencies wey CBN say go deal wit pipo wey abuse di naira include, di Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), di Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).
Section 21 (3) of di CBN act 2007 (as amended) say “to spray, dance or to match on di naira or any note wey dey issued by di bank during social events or dat kain tin go constitute abuse and defacing of di naira and go dey punishable under di law by fines or imprisonment or both”.
Anoda one be section 21 (4) wey tok say “e go also be offence wey dey punishable under sub-section (1) of dis section for any pesin to hawk, sell or oda-wise trade di naira notes, coins or any oda note wey di bank issue”.
Di apex bank come sama warning give Nigerians, particularly pipo for social functions, make dem no try disrespect di naira or dem go risk arrest by law enforcement agencies.
Recently, di inspector-general of police (IGP) Usman Alkali Baba, order di arrest of pesins wey dey sell or abuse di naira.
Party for Nigeria never complete if guests neva spary di celebrant moni, sometimes dem dey even spray fellow guests. But dis na one of di forms of naira abuse according to CBN.
Last Wednesday, di Independent Corrupt Practices and Oda Related Offences Commission (ICPC) bin arrest one woman wey dey sell new naira notes for social media.
Omoseyin was arrested by operatives of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Fraud Related Offences Commission, ICPC, on Wednesday, February 1, 2023 along Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, following intelligence report.
— EFCC Nigeria (@officialEFCC) February 3, 2023
Plenti drama on top Nigeria newly designed naira notes
Di new CBN policy wey design new 1,000, 500 and 200 notes and make di old ones no longer legal tenders don come wit plenti drama.
E don lead to a cash crisis wia Nigerians no fit access cash like before including the new and old ones.
Different videos of di dramatic incidents, long queues and struggles wey dey happun for banks and ATM don go viral for social media.
One recent viral video show how some staff for one commercial bank dey jump through fence and run from crowd wey don dey frustrated and desperate to get cash.
As di issue of old and new naira notes dey cause kasala for several parts of di kontri, President Muhammadu Buhari on 3 February ask Nigerians to give am seven days to resolve di mata.
President Buhari say im bin see reports of cash shortage and di effect wey e get on local business and ordinary pipo of di kontri.
According to di president, dem go use di remaining seven days of di ten-day extension wey CBN give afta di first deadline to address di factors wey dey block di successful implementation of di policy.
On 8 February, di Supreme Court grant interim injunction to stop Nigeria goment from implementing di 10 February deadline on di old naira notes from becoming legal tenders.
Afta di interim injuction, di Federal Goment through di Minister of Justice and Attorney General of di Federation Abubakar Malami ask di Supreme Court to dismiss di suit wey di three northern states file.
Although di CBN and President Buhari neva tell Nigerians wetin be di next step to take, but one Senior Advocate of Nigeria Ifedayo Adedipe tell BBC Pidgin say di apex bank dey bound to follow di Supreme Court injunction wey stop di naira redesign policy until di court hear di mata.
