Kukutenla:

So what is pos doing?

It depends. POS is not supposed to be a business, but a point of service. Sometimes a business, sometimes a "point of service".

Cubana, enter the ring

Then if these law are enacted, the POS people who sell money should all be arrested without further delay

Saintganduje:
I want to help you ok.

Why do you love trolling that aged oldie,Care to share what she has done to you.

Cantonese:
OP, spraying of naira or whatever currency is centuries old. It is part of our culture or society. Dem born us meet am. Dem born our papa papa meet am. It did not find its origin in the 1980. Please make a proper research.

you're correct. It's part of our culture but that doesn't make make it a good thing. We need to abolish it.

What happens then at burial ceremonies in Benin City?

So you mean our forefathers were using notes and not cowries? I am following

Cantonese:
OP, spraying of naira or whatever currency is centuries old. It is part of our culture or society. Dem born us meet am. Dem born our papa papa meet am. It did not find its origin in the 1980. Please make a proper research.

naptu2:
The origin of the ban on spraying

1980s

I attended a party at the official residence of a very senior government official in 1985 or '86. When it was time for the dance, the MC announced that there would be no spraying because spraying was not allowed. I thought that I understood why. My thought was that they did not want any ostentatious displays of wealth. That was in line with the situation in the country at the time.

From then on I heard similar announcements at parties that were held by government officials.

Dirty and mutilated notes in the 1990s and early 2000s

Fastforward to the late 1990s and early 2000s. Nigerians had been complaining about the poor quality of naira notes since the end of the 1990s. They complained that naira notes were dirty, torn and that in some cases you could barely read what's written on them. At that time (Joseph Sanusi era) the CBN put pressure on banks to receive old naira notes and forward them to it for destruction (Nigerians were complaining that banks were rejecting old naira notes).

Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo and the change

Then came Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo. Professor Soludo gave a speech in which he complained that the CBN was spending too much money to destroy mutilated notes and print new ones. He complained about the way that Nigerians treated bank notes. He reminded people that it was illegal to mishandle currency notes and he said that he was going to propose an amendment to the law to ensure that people who mishandle naira notes were severely punished.

Adverts

The CBN then released adverts to educate Nigerians about naira notes. You might remember them. The adverts were very detailed and explained every single situation properly. I’m going to try and explain them from memory.

1) Spraying: Do you want to show appreciation to a musician? Don’t paste naira notes on his forehead (where they will react with his sweat), don’t allow it to drop to the floor and react with dirt, don’t allow people to step and dance on it.

Instead, put the money in an envelope and go up and give it to the musician.

2) Carrying money: Don’t put naira notes in your bra where they will react with your sweat. Don’t squeeze naira notes and stuff them in your pockets. Get a wallet and put them neatly in the wallet.

3) Trading: Are you a trader/hawker? Don’t squeeze naira notes, don’t stuff them in your wrapper/pockets. Get a waist pouch and place them neatly in the pouch. Ensure that your hands are clean before you handle the naira. Don’t get blood or other liquids on the naira.

4) Church: Don’t squeeze naira notes into the collection box/basket. Put them in an envelope and place them neatly into the box/basket.

5) Selling change: Don’t sell naira notes. It is an offence. (Some people sell lower denomination notes [aka change] at parties, so that people will have money to spray).

6) Writing: Do you want to make calculations and write down important things? Don’t write on the naira, get a notepad.

All these scenarios were dramatised in the adverts (I’m sure that I have forgotten some of them).

The CBN said that the naira was a national symbol and people must treat it with respect.

Polymer notes:

You might remember that this was also one of the reasons that Professor Soludo introduced polymer notes. It was said that the polymer (plastic) notes would not get torn and would not absorb liquids as easily as the paper notes. It was also more difficult to write on the plastic notes.

Enforcement

The CBN act was amended to include jail terms for people who mishandle naira notes.

However, on one hand, some people expressed scepticism. Would the Central Bank go to all parties at weekends to arrest people that were spraying and selling change? They said that it was impossible to enforce.

On the other hand, some bloggers and rumour mongers created scare stories about policemen invading parties and arresting people.

Flagrancy

As stated above, the CBN/EFCC/ICPC cannot go to all parties every weekend and arrest every single person that sprays or sells money. They can’t arrest everybody that puts naira notes in their bra or stuffs them in their pocket.

Yet many people have been arrested and prosecuted for committing these offences in the past 17 years. How come?

Bobrisky was arraigned on a three count charge, that means he committed the offence 3 times, why wasn’t he arrested after the first or second time and why was he arrested after the third time? In fact, some people who follow these kind of events say that Bobrisky has sprayed money on more than 3 occasions. Why wasn’t he arrested all the other times? I’ll tell you what happened.

A movie producer wanted maximum publicity for her movie and she figured out a way to get it. Bobrisky was invited to the movie premiere and given an award for being the best dressed woman at the event. As expected, this caused an uproar.

The issue trended for a full week. There were many pictures, videos, stories and opinions about the incident. Many of them graced Nairaland’s homepage. The movie producer had gotten the publicity that she wanted.

In fact, the backlash was so great that the producer had to eventually admit that it was a publicity stunt (my friend had said that it was a publicity stunt right from when the first story broke).

Among the videos that trended for a week was a video of Bobrisky spraying money at the event. There was no way that it would not catch the attention of the EFCC.

A lot of people have been arrested and prosecuted for these offences in the past 17 years and if you look at them you’ll notice that they were all fragrant violations of the law.

A1) A Chinese man got angry at the Murtala Muhammed Airport and he tore over three thousand naira worth of notes right in front of security agents (Immigration, Customs, SSS). He was arrested by the SSS and handed over to the EFCC. He was prosecuted and sentenced to 2 years in jail.

https://www.efcc.gov.ng/efcc/news-and-information/news-release/8080-court-jails-chinese-two-years-for-naira-mutilation

Another actress was spraying money at an event and the video went viral. This was at a time that the government was very sensitive about the notes because they had just been redesigned and were scarce. Of course she was arrested and prosecuted.

https://www.nairaland.com/7553630/efcc-arrests-oluwadarasimi-omoseyin-over

A man became famous for creating jewelry made of naira and kobo coins. That fame was his problem. Of course he was arrested.

https://www.lindaikejisblog.com/2023/5/currency-mutilation-man-jailed-for-using-nigerian-coins-to-make-jewelry-2.html

There were also some people that were selling new naira notes at a party in Ilorin at a time when the notes had been redesigned and were scarce. They were also arrested.


So as you can see and as you will see when I share more articles and stories, many people have been arrested and prosecuted for breaking this law before Bobrisky was arrested.

With all these none of those selling new notes have been arrested or prosecuted, who sell or gave them the new notes? All the money deposit banks are guilty,
The political class are guilty of the of the offense.

drololaaof:

With all these none of those selling new notes have been arrested or prosecuted, who sell or gave them the new notes? All the money deposit banks are guilty,
The political class are guilty of the of the offense.

Now reread the second to the last paragraph.

Image123:


It depends. POS is not supposed to be a business, but a point of service. Sometimes a business, sometimes a "point of service".

But POS is selling naira

Cantonese:
OP, spraying of naira or whatever currency is centuries old. It is part of our culture or society. Dem born us meet am. Dem born our papa papa meet am. It did not find its origin in the 1980. Please make a proper research.

It is definitely not. It has its birth in our culture of niggardom ostentation

When we did trade by barter or used cowries as currency, did we spray them?

Why did we not also spray coins?

Paper money is a western invention that did not arrive here before colonization. So what were we doing before colonialism?

Kukutenla:

But POS is selling naira

Exactly

allthingsgood:
To be honest, i believe this ban on spraying naira is a waste of time and useless idea

First of all, the money that is sprayed at parties is never dirty. If anything, spraying the naira ensures preference for clean naira notes as these are the only types that can be sprayed.

Secondly, there is nothing you can do to prevent mutilation of naira notes. As far as naira is in peoples hands, it is bound to become dirty after passing through many hands. Whether you spray it or not, it will eventually be dirty and mutilated. If you want to keep naira clean, increase its value. You hardly see mutilated dollars because when something is valuable people tend to handle it with care

Thirdly, the law is a selective law. Why are only low level celebrities been arrested. What of high level politicians and their children that pour out cash at events like water

Finally, spraying cash is part of our culture. It brings happiness to both the giver and receiver. We spray money not only to show affluence, but also gratitude and appreciation. The law is made for man, not man for the law. It appears EFCC is less busy to have time to be chasing people spraying cash

Your brain haven't fully matured even in adulthood.