Is law against spraying of money a ‘dead letter law’?

Until recently, few Nigerians knew that a person could serve jail time, especially for as long as six months for spraying money and the few that knew never imagined that anyone could be arrested for the offence as spraying naira at parties has become part of the Nigerian culture.

But few weeks ago, the reality dawned on people when popular social media influencer, Bobrisky, was arrested by the EFCC for the offence of abusing the naira and was sentenced to six months imprisonment with a fine of N50, 000.

Few days later, the EFCC charged Cubana Chief Priest, another social media influencer for the same offence. But these are not the first set; in January 2023, during the naira scarcity, an actress, Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin was arrested by the EFCC for spraying new naira notes at a wedding in Lagos state. The court found her guilty and sentenced her to six months imprisonment with an option of N300,000 fine.

Section 21 of the CBN Act deals with abuse of naira and expressly prohibits spraying of the Naira notes or coins as it connotes a ‘disrespect’ to the Nigerian currency. In Section 21(1), it was stated that a person who tampers with a coin or note issued by the bank is guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term not less than six months or to a fine not less than N50, 000 or both such fine and imprisonment…

Specifically, the spraying, dancing or matching on the Naira or any note issued by the Central Bank during social occasions or otherwise constitute an abuse and defacing of the Naira.

The Naira is a national symbol and like the flag, anthem and other symbols, it should be respected but aside the few persons who have been recently prosecuted, the law appeared to be what is referred to as a ‘dead letter law.’

Dead letter laws are laws that are formally in effect but are not usually enforced. Such laws are usually ignored by law enforcement and therefore there are no practical consequences for breaching them.

This is the situation of the money spraying law; no one expects law enforcement agencies to go around monitoring parties to make sure no one sprays money. And as a result, people accuse EFCC of selective enforcement. And this is not a wrong assertion; there is selective enforcement where law enforcement officers handpick people that they choose to prosecute for an offence. And it is legal, because law enforcement agencies have the discretion to either prosecute a person or not, for an offence.

Usually, they do this to deter people from committing an offence because usually because when one person is penalised for an offence, it serves as a warning to others.

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