UPDATE: Handle Naira with care, respect — CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has called on Nigerians to handle the country’s currency with care, saying that it was a symbol of the nation’s identity and pride.

The Abeokuta Branch Controller of CBN, Wahab Oseni, who made who said this during a sensitization campaign on the redesigned Naira notes, held at Awolowo Market, Sagamu, Sagamu local government area of Ogun State, said Nigerians should know how to properly handle the naira and other related matters.

He said, “the Naira as a symbol of our national pride. It should not be sprayed or step on, should not be squeezed, defaced or stained. The naira should not be sold or counterfeited”.

While lamenting that the way and manner Nigerians handled the Naira affected its life span, Oseni advised the people to cultivate the habit of arranging the Naira in pouches, wallets or envelopes neatly.

He explained that a lot of efforts were put into the design and production of the nation’s currency, hence the need to respect it.

“One of the reasons why the naira was redesigned was the poor handling of the notes and it costs the CBN and the federal government huge amount of money to mint new notes cost. For example, the amount it costs to print N 1000 is higher than that amount, the same thing with other currency and that will not be a good thing for an economy.”

He said “part of the reason why we spend a lot on that is poor handling of the cash itself by the public. That is why we won’t stop sensitisation until Nigerians imbibe a better way of handling money so the two major reasons are those faking the notes and poor handling and as well as higher cost causing CBN to change the notes.