The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday decried claims made reportedly by an unnamed former staff that up to 20% of Naira notes in circulation are counterfeit.
Describing such claim as grossly exaggerated, uninformed and spurious, the apex bank noted that while there is no currency in the world that is totally immune from the activities of counterfeiters, the rate in Nigeria has been very minimal due to various policies put in place to check the menace.
According to a statement by Isaac Okoroafor, Acting Director of Corporate Communications Department of the apex bank, CBN records “clearly indicate that the prevalence of counterfeit notes in Nigeria from January to December 2016 was less than one per cent (0.0014%) or 14 counterfeit pieces out of one million bank notes.”
Continuing, the apex bank said it has always employed strong security features to make frustrate the efforts of currency counterfeiters, besides embarking periodically on massive nation-wide enlightenment of Nigerians on easy identification of fake banknotes and the reporting of such.
“We therefore find it rather curious that a former high ranking official of the CBN would make such bogus and unauthentic claims apparently calculated to destroy confidence in our national currency and sabotage the collaborative efforts of the CBN and the Federal Government at ensuring enduring stability of the financial system.”
Describing the alarming claim of a high rate of Naira counterfeiting as unfortunate, giving the false impression that two bills out of every N10 pieces held by an individual is ‘fake,’ the apex bank challenged the said former CBN official who made the claim to publicly provide “empirical evidence suggesting that 20% of Naira currency in circulation is fake.”
The CBN expressed commitment to safeguarding the value of the Naira by ensuring that banknotes are not susceptible to counterfeiting, while frowning strongly at attempts to counterfeit it.
“We also work constantly with relevant security agencies to monitor and check the activities of counterfeiters,” the statement added, urging members of the public to disregard all such “false alarm raised by the said former CBN official, be wary of the activities of counterfeiters and report any case of counterfeiting to the police and their banks.”