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SHORTAGE: CBN to flood market with lower naira denominations

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‘Naira would have crashed to N3000/USD if CBN had floated it’

The complaints over shortage of lower denomination of the Naira by citizens may soon end as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday began an exercise targeted at flooding the market with N100, N50, N20, N10 and N5 notes.

There is currently acute shortage of lower denomination currencies in Nigeria, which have left many Nigerians worrying over what could possibly be the cause.

But, the Director, Currency Operations, CBN, Mrs. Priscilla Eleje, who spoke at a sensitisation programme at the Wuse Market in Abuja, noted that the bank was mindful of the development and had decided to address the challenge, starting with traders.

She however cautioned against people hoarding or cloning the lower currency notes, threatening that anyone caught engaging in such would face the full wrath of the law.

“We spend money to print money every year. But we don’t see the money in the market. So, we called the market unions and banks to a meeting in our office on how to resolve that. We are here to inform you that we have started giving money to you traders via your association and the banks.

“We will monitor the disbursements and spending. No more sales of lower denomination currencies at Dei Dei (a suburb in Abuja popular for the sale of new naira notes). The Police are on the lookout and will arrest and prosecute offenders. We will give the money to the association via the commercial banks.

“All you need to do is to take your higher denomination currencies to your association and exchange with lower denomination currency equivalents.

“It’s not like the money is free. It’s just an exchange and we want it to be available to you people to do your business with ease. So, please let us know if you can’t access it. We want to ensure you trade seamlessly,” Eleje said.

Speaking on issues of counterfeiting of the naira, she decried the act, saying that the CBN was making efforts with the security agencies to address it.

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“Counterfeit money is an economic loss. Don’t collect it and don’t spend it. The loss is on you. That’s the law. However, we have machines with special in-built features to detect fake or counterfeited currencies. It’s a big crime and we are dealing with it.

“The banks have been directed to return the counterfeited currencies to us so that we study them to see the security features that are being counterfeited. So, we try to know which features are probably vulnerable and we improve on those going forward.

“We have reports of banks issuing counterfeit money. We are also monitoring banks issuing currencies that are mutilated. Report such banks to the CBN and you will get a redress,” she said.

 

 

 

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