NEW NAIRA NOTES: OGUN: CBN Sensitises Market Women, Allays Fears Over Counterfeit Notes

NEW NAIRA NOTES: OGUN: CBN Sensitises Market Women, Allays Fears Over Counterfeit Notes

Save Our Nation SON

January 13, 2023.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has called on the Nigerians, particularly market women, to disregard the rumours making the rounds that the new redesigned naira notes bleach.

The Apex Bank also allayed the fears of the people that the redesigned N1,000, N500 and N200 notes had been counterfeited, declaring that security features in notes would make it extremely difficult to be forged.

The Controller, CBN Abeokuta Branch, Wahab Lanre Oseni, who made this call on Thursday at the sensitization programme for traders at the Kuto Market, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, said that the redesigned notes were long overdue, adding the new notes would discourage currency hoarding and decrease the rate of counterfeiting in the country.

Oseni urged the traders not to wait till the January 31 deadline for the old notes and encouraged them to cultivate the habit of taking their cash to the bank instead of keeping at home.

He added that the introduction of the new notes would strengthen the economy, reduce the expenditure on cash management, promote financial inclusion and enhance the CBN’s visibility of the money supply.

Oseni, who reiterated that the decision of the CBN to redesign three denominations of the Naira was not targeted at any group or persons, added that the new notes are more durable.

“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.

“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 stated.

Oseni assured that the masterminds behind the circulation of the fake and bleaching new naira notes will be brought to the book by the DSS and other security agents.

“The notes printed by the CBN do not bleach but you cannot actually know the minds of these criminals. The DSS and other intelligence agencies are working on bringing these criminal elements to book just as they have done in the past.

“The other ones that people claim are bleaching are the handiwork of criminal elements. We have told them how to detect the ones that are not authentic. How to discover that a note is not the Central Bank’s money is that when you put your finger on the golden feature on it, it will bleach immediately, the CBN Controller said

Oseni, however, expressed the determination of the CBN to maintain the January 31 deadline to phase out the old naira notes.