Revealed: 20% of Naira in Circulation is Fake

Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja

Twenty per cent of the total currency being circulated across the country is fake, a former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, disclosed on Monday.

Mailafia made this disclosure while speaking at the opening session of a three-day public hearing on the 2017 budget appropriation process in the National Assembly on the topic: “Public Finance in the Context of Economic Recession: Innovative Options.”

The ex-banker, who said investors’ knowledge of huge economic potentials embedded in Nigeria was the reason for the recent over-subscription of $1 billion Eurobond initiated by the federal government, added that it was saddening that the concerned authorities appear to be oblivious of the gravity of the fake currency in circulation which he said was highly detrimental to the growth of the economy.