An ex-Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Obadiah Mailafia, has disclosed that 20% of the total currency flowing across the country is fake.

Mailafia who disclosed this at the opening session of a three-day public hearing on the 2017 budget appropriation process in the National Assembly, said that is so upsetting that the concerned authorities seem to be ignorant of the gravity of the forged currency being used throughout Nigeria.

This according to him was highly harmful to the growth of the economy.

“The fake currencies circulating means that they are not officially captured for monetary policies and its high-interest rates could elongate recession period”, he said

He noted that when fake currencies of that extent circulate, original currencies become scarce. “Bad money chases away good money,” he said.

Obadiah Mailafia, was the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from 2005 to 2006.

Anita Fatunji