The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has again warned Nigerians against abusing the naira notes saying the actions are punishable under the law and attract five years imprisonment.
Read Also: Spray naira at parties and risk jail, warns CBN
The Acting Director, Currency Operations Department, CBN, Mrs. Priscilla Eleje reiterated this during the apex bank’s public sensitsation and enlightenment campaign at Alesinloye market, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
Represented by a Deputy Director of the bank, Mrs. Olufolake Ogundero, Mrs. Eleje, shared concern about the acts of spraying, selling and mutilating the naira notes, saying they were inimical to the preservation of the naira notes and contributions to the scarcity of lower banknote denominations like N200, N100, N50, N20, N10 and N5.
She added that henceforth anyone caught in the acts would face prosecution and if convicted spend five years behind bar.
Her word: “It is a criminal offence punishable by six months imprisonment or a fine of N50,000 or both to sell, spray or mutilate the banknotes. It is also a criminal offence which attracts five years imprisonment without an option of fine for anybody to counterfeit the naira. Naira is our pride as a country. So, respect it.”
