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Today's selection comes from the African country of Nigeria, it is a 2000 issue 200 Naira featuring Sir Ahmadu Bello the new foil security thread can be see segmented through the note. Nigeria is located on the west coast of Africa between Benin and Cameroon. Refining is a major industry there. Enjoy (interesting article below)
Money traders who might once have made money exchanging pounds and dollars for local currency have now found a new way to turn a profit: swapping naira for naira, at a 30% mark-up.
Working in collaboration with corrupt bank staff, street traders are selling bundles of clean, fresh notes in exchange for bigger piles of dirty, but still usable, used currency.
'We notice that banks regularly collect their allocations of new notes from the central bank yet they pay their customers with tom or mutilated notes," said central bank spokesperson Tony Ede.
"The new notes they collect find their way to the parks where they are sold to buyers at illegal rates," Ede said. Lying behind the racket is the Nigerian habit of "spraying" singers and musicians with handfuls of cash at social events, and of giving cash gifts to relatives and guests. Naturally, revelers plastering a singer's forehead with bills or tossing cash bundles over a grateful jazz band prefer to use pristine notes straight from the printers,, not grubby rags. And they're prepared to pay for the privilege. Kemi, a 21-year-old female street hawker in the Ketu area of Lagos said that she could sell 700 naira in new bills for a 1000 naira in grubby notes.
Lagos police spokesperson Emmanuel Ighodalo said that such traders would not be arrested, but warned them that they should organize themselves and seek protection from robbers.
Last year, at least six black-marketeers were shot dead by robbers who raided them in two locations in Lagos. Despite the dangers, however, the trade is thriving. - All Africa News
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