On Thursday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) declared that the new naira note is genuine and not being bleached as the public had widely postulated.
Wahab Oseni, the branch controller of the top bank in Abeokuta, revealed this while speaking to market vendors and other members of the public at Kuto Market in the Ogun state capital of Abeokuta.
Oseni urged Nigerians not to harbor any concerns regarding the strength of the notes and stated that the rumors that the newly designed currency is bleaching are wrong.
He made a suggestion that the new notes are tougher than the old ones.
The Controller assured that the security features on the redesigned note would make it impossible for the criminal elements to manipulate the mint.
He said “The new notes are durable. It is not the texture that determines the durability but the security features on it. Something could have a very high texture and not be durable. This one is more durable than the previous one.
“We have several security features on the notes that may not be understood by the populace. On the issue of fake notes, CBN did not print fake new naira notes and none of the naira notes is bleaching. The circulated notes by CBN are authentic and one of the reasons for redesigning.
Oseni assured that the masterminds behind the circulation of the fake and bleaching new naira notes would be brought to book by the Department of Security Service (DSS) and other security agents.
“The notes printed by CBN do not bleach but you cannot actually know the minds of these criminals the DSS and other intelligence agencies are working on bringing these criminal elements to book just as they have done in the past.
“The other ones that people claim are bleaching are the handiwork of criminal elements. We have told them how to detect the ones that are not authentic. How to discover that a note is not the central bank’s money is that when you put your finger on the golden feature on it, it will bleach immediately.”
Oseni equally expressed the determination of the CBN to maintain the January 31 deadline to phase out the old naira notes.