Days before the new naira notes were released to the public, counterfeiters had begun their evil work of creating fake naira notes particularly the newly redesigned notes. One of the reasons the Central Bank of Nigeria gave in redesigning the higher denominations of the naira was due to the prevalence of counterfeits in the economy.
Governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, whilst announcing the redesigning of the naira on October 26, 2022, had noted that there has been an increasing ease and risk of counterfeiting evidenced by several security reports.
“Indeed, recent development in photographic technology and advancements in printing devices have made counterfeiting relatively easier. In recent years, the CBN has recorded significantly higher rates of counterfeiting especially at the higher denominations of N500 and N1,000 banknotes.
“Although global best practice is for central banks to redesign, produce and circulate new local legal tender every five to eight years, the Naira has not been redesigned in the last 20 years. On the basis of these trends, problems, and facts, and in line with Sections 19, Subsections a and b of the CBN Act 2007, the Management of the CBN sought and obtained the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari to redesign, produce, and circulate new series of banknotes at N100, N200, N500, and N1,000 levels,”he said.
However weeks after the new notes have been released to the public, many are still unaware of the security feature and how to distinguish the fake notes form the real naira notes. In thier fear of becoming victims of counterfeited naira notes, some Nigerians have refused to accept the new notes.
Meanwhile, the CBN has released statements on what the public should look out for in the new notes and how to distinguish the fake form the original. The CBN said he new notes were protected by a number of security features to facilitate easy recognition of genuine ones in case of counterfeiting.
It noted that the distinguishing features, which can be recognized by touch and visibility, are the raised print, the security thread, and the watermark. According to the CBN, other areas such as the portrait, lettering and the denominational numerals on the obverse and reverse of the notes are embossed.
Similar to the old notes, the apex bank explained that raised prints provide the tactility, while the security thread, which ordinarily looks broken but is not when held up against light, has “CBN” in small lettering printed on both sides of the notes.
The CBN said the naira notes are protected against photocopying as they contain features which are visible. All the new notes, the N200, N500 and N1,000 have optically variable ink which allows the color on certain parts of the notes to change from blue to green with a change of viewing angle. for the N500 and N200 notes the optical variable ink is located in the lower right part of the front of the note where the denomination is written while for the N1,000 note it is in the middle of the front of the note.
The CBN governor had assured that the redesigned naira notes cannot be counterfeited due to its security features saying, “Let me tell you this, these notes cannot be counterfeited because of the security features in them; nobody can counterfeit them.
“What you could only find will be people making photocopies of these notes. If you follow due process to check the authenticity of a currency and take them through the UV (ultraviolet) light, you will find that this currency cannot be counterfeited. The best you will find is photocopies.
“What I am trying to say is that to reduce that incidence of counterfeiting or photocopying, that is why we are saying that the CBN must now, without waiting every five to eight years, redesign and reissue these notes.
“So that those who think they can take advantage of the system by counterfeiting will know that the game is over for them.”
