INSPECTOR-GENERAL of Police (IGP) Usman Alkali Baba has ordered the arrest and prosecution of Nigerians selling, spraying or generally abusing naira notes in the country.
Disclosing this in a statement he issued today, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Nigerian Police, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said Baba has ordered that officers of the Force Intelligence Bureau be stationed across the country to enforce the directive.
“The IGP has similarly charged all supervisory Assistant Inspectors-General of Police and Commissioners of Police in charge of Police Commands and Formations to carry out full enforcement of the provisions of Sections 20 and 21 of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007, which criminalizes, among other things, the hawking, selling or otherwise trading, spraying of, dancing or matching on the Naira notes, falsifying or counterfeiting of bank notes, refusal to accept the Naira as a means of payment, and tampering with the coin or note issued by the CBN,” Adejobi noted.
He urged residents to cooperate with the police in apprehending violators of naira notes.
Some Nigerians have been engaging in selling the naira, following the current scarcity of notes in the country.
The ICIR reported that currency hawkers were making fast cash from trading the redesigned notes.
In Abuja, a wrap of the new N200 note, amounting to N20,000, was being sold for N29,000 at the Dei-Dei area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) up till last week.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via vopara@icirnigeria.org or @ije_le on Twitter.