With the scarcity of redesigned naira notes biting really hard, coupled with the tough stance taken by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to jail anyone caught defacing the notes or spraying them at parties, Nigerians, Lagosians in particular, have devised an ingenious means of continuing with the age-long spraying culture without abusing the naira at parties.
The latest innovation, referred to as ‘party money’, are money vouchers produced by event planners. Guests at the party buy the amount they desire to spray the host or hostess and transfer the equivalent in naira to the account of the agents, who are usually the event planners who print and sell these ‘party money’ with the images of the celebrant or event host. The common denomination is N1000 and N500 notes. The ‘party money’ is in no way the real money. It is the event currency or party prop.
While the naira policy has given event planners another reason to be creative, it is obvious, more still needs to be done to sensitise partygoers on how it works. A case in point being that of controversial singer, Habeeb Okikiola, aka Portable, who was sprayed with money vouchers at a recent event he performed in Ogun State. The cantankerous singer had made a video cursing out those who sprayed him with the money vouchers which he referred to as fake naira notes. Unknown to him, he was supposed to have approached the show/event planner or host to redeem the vouchers.
Also, because some of these money vouchers are printed like real naira notes without the image of the celebrant, awareness has to be done on how to detect counterfeit and real money, so people don’t start faking the naira notes. Counterfeiting is an offence as only the CBN has the authority to issue a legal tender. In this regard, a lot of fine tuning still needs to be done with these so called ‘party money’ or money vouchers to avoid going against the law. Recall that on February 3rd, Nollywood actress Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin, popularly known as Simisola Gold, was arrested by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for spraying and stepping on the new Naira notes at a party. She was later granted bail to the tune of N5m.
Ivory Ukonu is a versatile journalist with many years of experience, with entertainment and society reporting as her area of core competence.
