The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, has ordered the arrest of persons selling or abusing the naira notes.
This was stated by the IGP on Friday, while instructing the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID) and the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of the Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB) to place their officers on "high alert.”
He stated that anyone involved in the sale or abuse of naira notes issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should face prosecution.
In a similar development, SaharaReporters on Thursday reported that the anti-corruption commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) said it had arrested a woman identified as Omoseyin Oluwadarasimi Esther offering new naira notes for sale on social media.
The anti-corruption commission in a statement issued on Wednesday via its official Twitter handle said the suspect was arrested on Wednesday, February 1, 2023.
According to the statement, she was arrested following an intelligence report received by the commission which led its operatives to seek out and promptly apprehended the suspect.
"It is believed she is in collusion with key elements in the financial services sector diverting the newly released notes away from banking halls and payment channels into a ‘black market.’
"She is currently in ICPC detention and is helping the Commission with its findings on the criminal trading of the naira and the attendant scarcity and negative economic outcomes being caused by the action," the statement had read.