Nigerians with knowledge of secret, concealed cash can profit from them if they chose to speak out

The EFCC has made a sweet promise to compensate people who identify the location that led to the discovery of hidden cash

The EFCC’s promise of reward comes as new Naira notes minted over the last 15 years enter circulation ahead of CBN’s redesigned Naira notes introduction

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has promised financial rewards for information on persons hoarding naira notes.

Abdulrasheed Bawa, the Chairman of EFCC, gave this assurance while speaking in an interview with the Deutsche Welle Hausa Service on Wednesday, November 16.

According to Bawa, whistleblowers will be rewarded with five per cent of the funds recovered, ICIR reports.

EFCC message to Nigerians

The chairman of EFCC, while speaking on the naira notes design, also stressed that CBN’s move is not political but that the government wants to force people who hid money at home to deposit them in bank accounts.

He said:

“We are also calling on Nigerians and even non-Nigerians that all channels are accessible. If anyone knows someone who hid suspicious money, they should alert us and we will investigate it; when we investigate the money and get it, the whistleblower also gets five per cent.

“These public funds were embezzled and we want them to return them. We have not told anyone not to bring this money out. What the government said was to deposit the money into bank accounts, or else sanctions may follow, ” he said.

Quoting legal provisions, the EFCC chairman stated that the redesigning of the naira is expected to be done after every eight years.

“Nigeria has 20 years without redesigning, almost 80 per cent of the naira is not in the bank and the CBN is in the hands of people. So how can the government succeed? How can a country get 25 per cent of foreign exchange which is a benefit from its currency in 10 days?”