THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said on Monday that currency counterfeiting poses a very serious danger to the nation's economy which requires all hands to be on deck if it must be discontinued.
The CBN Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi stated this in Abuja while declaring open a one week regional workshop on bank notes and currency management and forecasting in central banks organised by the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management, WAIFEM.
The governor, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Economic Policy, Mrs Sarah Alade, stressed that one of the major challenges facing central banks worldwide is the increasing prevalence of currency counterfeiting which he noted was becoming easier due to advances in technology.
He warned that if unchecked and allowed to flourish further, currency counterfeiting will undermine the integrity of domestic economy, creates economic distortions, and render the tools of economic management ineffective.
He however, stressed that to overcome this malady, appropriate enlightenment on the evil of counterfeiting needs to be taken seriously while adequate anti-counterfeiting laws be enacted to check perpetrators of such acts.
According to him, there is also the need for effective collaboration between central banks and other international agencies involved in the fight against counterfeiting,
adding that effective currency management depended on excellent information and insightful analysis.
Sanusi stated that efficient and effective currency management commenced with a strategic analysis of the currency life cycle.
The CBN helmsman noted that despite the important role of currency in the economy, its strategic management will be impossible without accurate forecasts of demand for bank notes.
Speaking in the same vein, the Director General of WAIFEM, Prof. Akpan Ekpo, in a welcome address, decried currency counterfeiting worldwide.
Ekpo said that currency counterfeiting, which has become as old as money itself, poses grave danger to national economies and financial losses to consumers.
Ekpo, who expressed his disgust for the practice, explained that recent developments in photographic and computer technology, as well as printing devices, have made the production of counterfeit money relatively easy, thereby increasing potential threats.
The Guardian