A strong concern has been raised over the increasing volume of fake currencies in circulation in Nigeria. According to Obadiah Mailafia, former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as high as 20 per cent of currency notes circulating in Nigeria are fake.
According to him, the impact of this development would be strongly felt in the economy. Specifically, he observed that it would be impossible to bring down food prices with the fake currency in circulation.
“Twenty per cent of currency circulating in Nigeria is fake; you can’t bring down food prices if you have fake currency circulating,” he said.
He then commented on the state of the Nigerian economy which is worsened by the foreign exchange crisis; he added that the refusal of the CBN to effectively regulate commercial banks contributed to the recession.
“I am a former deputy governor of the CBN, so when it comes to regulations, we could have done better. If you have recession, you have to open a situation room where experts will be monitoring the economy daily. These experts will work on ways to get the country out of the situation,”Mailafia said.
