Just In: Tinubu’s New Minister Breaches Law, Risks Six-Month Jail Term
- It is illegal to spray Naira notes in any part of Nigeria and authorities have always warned against it
- A new minister, Hannatu Musa Musawa, has been caught in the web of controversy after a video surfaced online showing her spraying naira notes at an event
- Nigeria's apex financial institution, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reacted and promised to "confront" Musawa
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FCT, Abuja - Hannatu Musa Musawa, the new minister of art, culture, and creative economy, is under fire for allegedly 'abusing' the naira notes.
A viral video showed Musawa spraying a musician naira notes at an event after her inauguration on Monday, August 21.
Source: Facebook
Video shows Hannatu Musawa 'abusing' naira
Legit.ng reports that the spraying of the naira by Musawa, an ally of President Bola Tinubu, contravenes Section 21 of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act 2007.
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The CBN Act stated that tampering with the naira would attract imprisonment.
According to the Act, anyone caught in the act is guilty of an offence, and liable to six months in prison or will be fined N50,000 or might get both fine and imprisonment.
The CBN explained in the Act that spraying, dancing, or matching on the Naira is an abuse or tampering of Nigeria's currency. The Act reads:
A person who tampers with a coin or note issued by the Bank is guilty of an offence and shall on notes and coins imprisonment for a term not less than six months or to a fine not less than N50,000 or to both such fine and imprisonment.
A coin or note shall be deemed to have been tampered with if the coin or note has been impaired, diminished or lightened otherwise than by fair wear and tear or has been defaced by stumping, engraving, mutilating, piercing, stapling, writing, tearing, soiling, squeezing orany other form of deliberate and willful abuse whether the coin or note has or has not been thereby diminished or lightened.
For the avoidance of doubt, spraying of, dancing or matching on the Naira or any note issued by the Bank during social occasions or otherwise howsoever shall constitute an abuse and defacing of the Naira or such note and shall be punishable under Sub-section (1) of this section.
It remains to be seen if the CBN will act against Musawa, and implement its Act.
Isa Abdulmumin, the director of the corporate communications department of the apex bank, said the Naira abuse policy is still active.
The CBN official stated that anyone found culpable risks punishment.
BBC quotes Abdulmumin as saying:
“The law is still active and if for anything, stringent measures are in place to curtail such anti-social behaviour.
“We will confront her.”
Hannatu Musawa was once rejected by Senate
Legit.ng earlier reported that the senate once rejected Musawa's nomination.
Musawa, who was rejected in 2020 for failing to present evidence that she participated in the mandatory National Youth Service (NYSC) scheme, was nominated by Tinubu as a minister.
A report by Premium Times spotlighted this on Friday, August 4, 2023.
Source: Legit.ng
