By Leshi Adebayo
The Central Bank of Nigeria has declared that it will no longer be accepting composed Naira notes from commercial banks as deposits.
The apex bank warned that Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) are not to include deposits with composed (mutilated) Nigerian banknotes.
The development was contained in a statement issued by Director of CBN’s Currency Operations Department, Ahmed Umar in Abuja.
Umar, who noted that the directive took effect from April 1, said these composed banknotes are mutilated currency notes comprising several parts of different banknotes of the same denomination.
He stated that the existence of these banknotes in the economy diminished the true value of the currency in circulation thereby giving room to fraudulent activities.
The statement read in part, “The management of the CBN observed with concern the increase number of composed banknotes deposited by DMBs and request for replacement of such banknotes by members of the public.
“The existence of composed banknotes in the economy falsify the true value of currency in circulation, and can also be avenue for fraudulent activities.”
Speaking on defaulters of this new directive, Umar revealed that any bank that has composed banknotes in its deposit will attract a penalty.
“Consequently, any composed banknote discovered in the deposit of DMBs shall attract penalty of 400 per cent of the value,” the statement added.
