N200, 000 fine for naira abuse Bill passes second reading

A Bill, seeking to amend the Currency Off ences Act 2004 and institute a stiff er penalty for abusers of the naira, yesterday passed the second reading in the House of Representatives. Th e sponsor of the Bill, Uchechuku Nnam-Obi, had expressed concern over the increasing rate of abuse of the country’s currency. According to him, the emerging amendment would seek to institute a stiff er penalty for the violation of the Principal Act by substituting the sum of N1,000 with the sum of N200,000 as fi ne in Section 4 of the Act.

“It is a crime to hawk the naira and you see this abound in most cities in the country, there is a place in Dei-Dei in Abuja, somewhere in Lagos and other towns, it is shameful. “Go to wedding ceremonies, you see them selling it as though it were commodity like pepper and onion. For enforcement, we will charge our security operatives to do their bid’’, he added. While calling on Nigerians to handle the naira notes properly, Nnam-Obi expressed worries that currency depreciation was on the rise in the country. Deputy Speaker, Yusuff Lasun, referred the Bill to the House Committee on Banking and Currency. (NAN)

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