Some Nigerians have expressed concern over the high volume of dirty and torn bank notes in circulation in the country, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
Checks by NAN in Lagos revealed that there is large volume of dirty, faded and torn notes in circulation, particularly the N10, N20 and N50 notes.
Bank customers complained that the found it difficult to get new notes of these denominations from their banks.
These customers, who spoke with NAN in separate interviews in Lagos on Wednesday, appealed to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to remove these dirty notes from circulation.
Mr Peter Ugochukwu, a teacher, said that in spite the campaigns by the apex bank on the abuse of the naira notes, it had become an “undying culture”.
He said that Nigerian currency notes should be accorded respect, adding that “the dirty notes say a lot about who we are as a country”.
Mr Olakunle Opeloyeru, a civil servant, corroborated Ugochukwu’s view when he said too many dirty notes were in circulation.
He said that customers hardly got new notes from the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) these days.
Opeloyeru recalled that when the ATMs were introduced, they used to dispense crisp news notes and many customers preferred to make withdrawals through them.
He advised the apex bank to compel banks to dispense new notes through the ATMs to encourage people to embrace the cash-less policy.
Dr. Olumide Owoade, lecturer in the Department of Economics, Lagos State University, accused the banks of deliberately issuing dirty notes to customers.
He advised that government should check the abuse of naira notes so that the money used in printing the notes could be used for other things.
``It is a good measure to control the abuse of the naira because the government spends a lot of money on their production,’’ he said.
Speaking on health implications, Mrs Titi Osoba, a micro-biologist, told NAN that checking the volume of dirty naira notes in circulation would help to reduce cases of cancer and other related diseases.
She said that dirty notes could harbour bacteria that could be health harzards, especially to those keeping the notes in sensitive parts of the body.
Efforts to get the CBN spokesman to comment on the issue proved abortive. (NAN)
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