Counterfeit notes worth N365.24 million were discovered and seized by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) between 2016 and 2020, collated from the annual report for each year published on its website.
The figures break down as follows:
2016 – N51.45 million
2017 – N93.43 million
2018 – N98.82 million
2019 – N64.71 million
2020 – N56.83 million
“To maintain the integrity of the banknotes in circulation, the Department, in collaboration with DMBs, Bankers Warehouse Pls and security agencies, continued to intensify its efforts at mitigating the incidences of counterfeiting during the period under review,” the report said, per The PUNCH.
“A total of 119,663 pieces of counterfeit notes with a nominal value of N98.82m was recorded in 2018.
“This indicated a decline of 1.30 per cent in volume terms and an increase of 5.77 per cent in value terms when compared with 118,126 pieces with a nominal value of N93.43m recorded in the corresponding period of 2017.”