Nigerians may soon bid bye to dirty, torn and mutilated Naira as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has ordered the withdrawal of the N7.9 trillion unfit banknotes in circulation, and decreed that only clean, crisp Naira notes should exchange hands henceforth.
This is in line with its mandate of production and circulation of quality banknotes, which align with with defined standards.
Aside that, the apex bank has also pledged to sensitise the populace on the basic security features, the dangers of sale and proper handling habits expected to be accorded the legal tender by the public.
It sternly warns then that “any abuse of the Naira is criminal offence, punishable under the CBN Act of 2007”.
That is to say, abuse the Naira and go to jail!
The current hard stance is hardly surprising since the CBN, over the years, has been working assiduously to ensure consistency in the quality of the notes in circulation in terms of appearance and cleanliness.
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But unfortunately, this effort was not yielding the desired results as the naira has continued to be subjected to various forms of abuse in the hands of many Nigerians.
It is a fact widely known that today, despite not being the national currency, Nigerians accord more respect to the American Dollar than the local currency because, hardly can one find the greenback sprayed at parties, soiled, crumpled, trampled or written upon as the Naira.
The end result of the Naira abuse is that a humongous stash, N7.9 trillion has been rendered unfit banknotes for seamless payment and settlement of transactions by the public, the government and banks.
According to the apex bank, a large proportion of the naira notes is dirty, mutilated, unfit for even Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and over-the-counter payments.
Consequently, CBN in collaboration with key industry stakeholders produced the Clean Notes Policy and Banknote Fitness Guidelines., which were launched in Lagos last week by its Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and the critical stakeholders.
“The objective of a banknote fitness standard is to ensure that they meet the expectation of the public in terms of cleanliness and appearance; ensure that basic security features on the banknote remain visible and are easily recognized by the public to deter counterfeiting; and facilitate automated dispensing, counting and sorting of banknotes”, the apex bank states.
It adds: “The document provides acceptable standards for good quality (fit) banknotes and poor quality (unfit) banknotes based on various degradation levels.” The apex bank then threatened banks that violate the two policy documents with dire consequences.
According to Emefiele, the ‘responsibility for clean notes in circulation is a collaborative effort and CBN is alive to its own responsibilities of preserving the integrity of the Naira and sustaining public confidence in the currency. These include sustainable institutional reforms and enactment of policies that will promote efficient currency management .
The Clean Note Policy requires the banks to process their banknotes using registered cash processing companies (CPC) and classify them into fit and unfit.
Emefiele, who was represented by the Deputy Governor in charge of Operations, Mr. Folashodun Shonubi, explained that the ‘responsibility for clean notes in circulation is not exclusively that of the central bank.
“Rather a collaborative effort between the central bank, banknote suppliers, deposit money banks (DMBs), manufacturers of currency management equipment, currency transportation and processing companies, security agencies, and the general public.
