The Central Bank of Nigeria on Saturday said that it had started clamping down on the abuse naira notes nationwide.

CBN director of Corporate Communications Department, Isaac Okorafor, who spoke at a one-day interactive session with stakeholders in Owerri, said that the abuse of the naira notes was a crime in the country.

Okorafor said the spraying of naira was an offence, as it amounted to “abusing the country’s symbol of sovereignty.”

He said, “We have begun the clampdown on the abuse of naira notes. It is a very big offence to spray our naira notes. It is the symbol of our national sovereignty.

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“The law is very clear on it. When you abuse the notes by spraying them, you get a jail term, or a N50,000 fine or both.”

He added, “We have told banks to assemble all the old or mutilated naira notes for reprinting. We have given banks three months to do that.”

The national vice chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Issa Aremu, said that it was heartwarming that the apex bank was exploring deeper measures to ensure the stability in the financial system.