Abusing Naira notes will attract 6 months imprisonment – CBN Governor
Nigerians who are found culpable of abusing Naira notes would be tried in a mobile court, bankers in the country have warned.
The bankers say mobile courts have already been set up to prosecute such offenders.
The CBN Director, Isaac Okorafor, said during a press briefing after the Bankers’ Committee meeting in Lagos on Thursday that anyone found squeezing, hawking, spraying or trampling on Naira notes at any ceremony would be arrested and tried at the mobile courts.
“We realised that it costs a lot of money to print the Nigerian naira notes; we also realised that the CBN Act, 2007 forbids any action by anybody either by spraying or squeezing or trampling upon it, writing on it, or hawking it,” Okorafor said.
“That Act makes it punishable by six months’ imprisonment, or the offender pays a fine of N50,000 or both. And so, it is not only hawking it, but also if at a party, somebody dances upon the money or sprays it, that person automatically goes to jail from that reception. So, Nigerians should bear that in mind and we are serious about it.”
He added that CBN is collaborating with relevant agencies of government, Ministry of Justice, the judiciary and the Nigeria Police Force to ensure that the law is enforced.
“It is the duty of the law enforcement agencies to catch offenders and take them to court, and we have been collaborating with the Nigeria Police Force on this mobile court, and that collaboration will be intensified,” he added.
