Fake currency in circulation less than 1%, CBN says

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has refuted claim that about 20 percent of currency in circulation are fake.

An ex-Deputy governor of the CBN, Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, while presenting a paper at the opening of a 3-day budget public hearing at the National Assembly, said about 20 percent of currency in circulation were fake.

However, a statement by CBN’s acting Director of Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, said yesterday that less than one percent of Naira in circulation are fake.

“While we acknowledge that no currency in the world is immune from counterfeiting, we make bold to state that the rate of counterfeiting in Nigeria has been very minimal due to appropriate policies put in place by the Bank.

“Indeed, our records at the Bank 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.”

“We therefore challenge the said former CBN official to make public the empirical evidence suggesting that 20 per cent Naira currency in circulation is fake.”

“Members of the public are therefore advised to disregard the 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,” the statement said.