The Central Bank of Nigeria has said that the Department of State Service (DSS) and other Intelligence Agencies are already watching to apprehend and prosecute those behind counterfeit or fake of the redesigned new naira notes.
He urged Nigerians to focus more on how to identify the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) money, explaining that if one places one’s thumb on the golden feature on any of the redesigned notes, it would not bleach away its colour whereas when same test is performed on fake one, it would definitely bleach the colour out.
The Head, CBN Abeokuta branch, Ogun State, Alhaji Wahab Oseni, made this known while fielding questions from reporters shortly after the apex bank’s had carried awareness and sensitization programme for traders, market women, electronic payment system operators and other stakeholders on Thursday at the popular Kuto Market, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
He said, “What is important question people should ask, ‘ is it the right thing to fake currency? We have told Nigerians how they can actually identify CBN money. When you put your finger on the golden feature on it, you will definitely see that one will bleach immediately but that of Central Bank that is minted by Mints Inspectorate, is the genuine one and if you even put your thumb on top of that (golden feature) for three minutes, it will not bleach and you will not see any sign of bleach even if you use 10 minutes. That is how you can get the difference.
“You cannot actually know the mind of criminals, you can’t know the mind of criminals so, people want to perpetrate whatever they want to perpetrate actually know that is the job they want to do. I’m sure the Department of State Service(DSS) and other Intelligence officers are already watching such(development)just like they have done it in the past and they have always been caught and prosecuted.”
He explained that the inbuilt security features in the new naira notes are what determine their durability and not the texture of the materials on which they were printed.
Speaking earlier, Oseni warned market men, women and other stakeholders in the nation’s economy not to reject the old currency offered for financial transactions until the expiration of the window period on January 31, 2023.
He noted that the sensitization exercise regarding how to exchange the old notes for the new naira notes sought to prepare the ground for easing the anticipated bottleneck likely to follow at the expiration period.
The Apex Bank also allayed the fears of Nigerians that the redesigned N1,000, N500 and N200 notes had been faked, declaring that security features in notes would make it counterfeiting or forging an extremely difficult task to embark on.
He urged Nigerians to make use of alternate payment system – e – naira wallet, Point of Sale System(POS), electronic payment transfer among others to dispose their old naira notes before January 31st.
“The new notes are durable. It is not the texture that determines the durability, but the security features on it. Something could have a very high texture and not be durable. These ones are more durable than the previous ones.
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“We have several security features on the notes that may not be understood by the populace. On the issue of fake notes, CBN did not print fake new naira notes and none of the naira notes is bleaching. The circulated notes by CBN are authentic and one of the reasons for redesigning,” he said.
