Barely three months after the launch of Nigeria’s new polymer banknotes, fake versions of the notes have hit the Nigerian currency market, causing intense panic among traders and customers, NEXT has learnt. Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) officials, say they have received reports and complaints on the fake notes but added that they are still working out answers on the notes, which were introduced and advertised for its presumed superior security features and life span.

“We are doing something but we cannot disclose it,” the bank’s spokesman, Mohammed Abdullahi, said. Across the country, major concerns lie in what factors to use in identifying the fake notes. The CBN has no answers to this either. “People should check the CBN website. The security features are all on our website,” Mr. Abdullahi said.

The CBN website however, does not display security features for any of the new polymer bank notes. While some banks claim that the serial numbers on the banknotes may be used to check the authenticity of the note, the Nigerian mint company, the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting PLC (NSPM) says otherwise. “The sequence number of the fake has six numerical digits while the real one has seven,” a banker with Spring Bank said to NEXT. Segun Oshatala, the General Manager, NSPM-Abuja Factory, said however, that the serial numbers on the banknotes cannot determine whether or not the note is fake.

“The six digits or the seven digits do not show whether or not the note is fake. The serial number is just to show the country that the note was printed. You know some of the notes are printed abroad and some in Nigeria,” Mr. Oshatala said in a telephone interview with NEXT. Mr. Oshatala also described some more reliable features to identify real polymer banknotes. “If you run your fingers on the banknotes, especially on the portraits, you will observe that it is embossed.

It has a ridge-like or a rough feel. The fake ones will not have that because that is a specialised security feature,” he said. He, however, explained that a more reliable method of verification would be beneath mercury bulbs, which are largely available in banks. “The CBN will be the ones to say whether or not the serial numbers indicate a fake note,” Mr. Oshatala added. Confusion While some traders in Lagos, responding to questions by NEXT, expressed concerns about the influx of fake polymer notes in the country, others passed off the questions as rumours. “Why will they waste money on the ink to print the 50 naira notes instead of 1000 notes?” was the retort by a trader who gave his name as Alhaji Bintu. Citizens, who have to spend the money, however, are not at ease as there is no ready way to identify the fake notes except they go to the banks.

A petty trader, who spoke to NEXT in Asaba, a town in the Niger Delta region, said that a bank had just rejected about 1000 naira in 50 naira bills gotten from her business activities from the day. The perplexed woman left the bank with the banknotes, identified as fakes by the bank cashier. The CBN however claims that there is good news in all these. “Something to note here is that our security system has worked because the banks were able to recognise the fake notes,” Mr. Abdullahi said. The polymer notes were introduced during the tenure of the former governor of Central Bank, Chukwuma Soludo. One of the reasons given then was the safety of the notes. Billions of dollars were spent to print the notes and ensure that it would be worthless to produce fake ones.