COMMERCIAL TRENDS IN SPORTS 2017 – Nielsen

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COMMERCIAL TRENDS IN SPORTS 2017 – Nielsen

Politically, socially and technologically, the world is in the midst of one of the most disruptive periods in living memory—this disruption is affecting where investment in sports is coming from, how sports content is created and distributed, and changing the dynamics of relationships between rights holders, sponsors and fans.

With global sponsorship spend forecast to reach over $62 billion in 2017 and global media rights spend expected to hit $45 billion, the top-line metrics remain positive. But this is a period of rapid change for sports—from China’s remarkable investments at home and abroad to new technologies such as virtual reality, the explosion in direct-to-consumer content to shifts in audience habits and consumption.

Nielsen Sports has analyzed the changes happening across the worlds of sports, media and technology by listening to the industry, examining the relevant data and carefully considering the impact of these changes. With the help of our experts around the world, this whitepaper outlines what we regard as the 10 major commercial trends in sports.

Click here to download the full report:

Auto Dealers Launch Automated Customs Duty Verification Stickers

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Auto Dealers Launch Automated Customs Duty Verification Stickers

Amid the controversy over the attempt by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to force motor owners to pay duty on uncustomised vehicles,  the Association of Motor Dealers of Nigeria (AMDON) has launched an automated customs duty verification sticker.

The move, which was a prompt
response to address the controversies between the auto dealers and the NCS on one hand and their customers on the other, is expected to lay to rest, under-payment of customs duties across the country and save them from unnecessary harassment and detention.

AMDON National President, Ajibola Adedoyin, disclosed yesterday in Abuja that the essence of the sticker  was to make it difficult for the sale of uncustomised vehicles, stop the suffering car dealers usually find themselves as well as eradicate the embarrassment faced by customers and end-users.
“This development is in collaboration with NCS. The stickers are fitted with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) that contains information readable through the handset,” he said.

The stickers are to cost N5,000 and signify that vehicle  that have them have been verified with the use of the numbers provided by the NCS  pending when the short code for easier verification will be ready and issued.
With this, Adedoyin explained that vehicle buyers were admonished to look out for these stickers before purchasing any vehicle.

“The RFID contains the VID (Vehicle Identification) number which is for security purposes, the chasis number and the owner phone number. The subsequent AMDON RFID stickers to be produced will even contain more information which will include the reference number, which is the NCS port of entry and date of registration which are the requirements to authenticate the genuineness of duty payment as approved by the NCS.

“It is our hope that by our commitment towards this project, we would have been able to reduce all the above stated problems to the barest minimum,” he said
The AMDON president advised all members of the association to strictly adhere to the directives, and encouraged all car dealers who are yet to identify with the association to do so.

Adedoyin also disclosed that AMDON was partnering the Nigeria Police Force to reduce to the barest minimum, the issue of stolen vehicles.
This synergy, he stated, was expected to curb security issues associated with car theft.

 

(Thisdaylive)

O’Naturals Beauty Salon Recognized For Excellence

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O’Naturals Beauty Salon Recognized For Excellence

O’Naturals Beauty, the parent company of O’Naturals Natural Hair Salon and O’Naturals Bride, has been recognized for professionalism and excellence in the natural hair styling industry.

The recognition is coming on the heels of their numerous efforts. They are raising the standards of natural hair styling and natural hair care through creative and healthy hair professional tips, advise and counseling.

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Christian Nyassa, General Manager, Professional Products Division, L’Oreal, Sub-Saharan Africa visited the office on Saturday, March 25, 2017 where he commended the management for their professionalism in promoting natural and healthy hair styling. “No doubt, O’Naturals is a leader in natural hair styling services in Lagos and indeed Nigeria. Their professional approach at promoting and ensuring the healthiness of natural hair of its various clients is worthy of commendation and recognition,” he revealed.

This, according to him, is backed by their attitude of excellence in the beauty business and he commended the management for their efforts.

Ms. Omozo Ehigie, CEO/Co-Founder O’Naturals Beauty, expressed her excitement and revealed that the vision of O’Naturals goes beyond meeting the physical needs of its customers which is beautiful hair but also dealing with how they can achieve healthy hair goals.

She further revealed that the recognition would aid the organization’s vision of not only  expanding its salon locations but also offering training and support progammes to aspiring natural hair stylists and hair care professionals. This is so that stylists, hair care professionals and also the public recognise that natural hair care is a valid and viable professional career path. And natural hair is not bad or ugly but beautiful and can look professional.

Ugo Igbokwe, MD/CEO of Make Me Beauty Salons Lagos, who also visited, confessed that O’Naturals is a pace setter in natural hair styling services in Lagos. “O’Naturals Beauty Salon is very professional in natural hair styling and deserves recognition for its wonderful work in the industry,” he said.

Doctor Oladele Jejelola (a Pediatrician), is an O’Naturals customer. She  reiterates that O’Naturals approach to hair styling is phenomenal. “O’Naturals is not just about making you look beautiful but making you have healthy natural hair by giving you tips and ways of making your hair healthy.” She further reveals that their service delivery is apt as the service she gets at O’Naturals can be compared to none.

O’Naturals regularly works with trichologists and dermatologists to meet the healthy hair requirements of its customers.

Why Nigerians in diaspora need to invest in Nigeria- Adefemi

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Why Nigerians in diaspora need to invest in Nigeria- Adefemi

Damilola Adefemi, Group Managing Director Eliel Group of Companies, has called on  Nigerians in diaspora to invest in Nigeria by acquiring and developing landed properties. She also urged the Federal Government on the need to start schemes that will provide shelter for the citizens considering the country’s rising population.

Image result for Damilola Adefemi, Group Managing Director Eliel

Adefemi said:” Since we realized the importance of investing at home from any part of the world especially acquisition of landed properties and development, Shadop International Properties, a specialist in building houses for Nigerians in Diaspora has helped many of them to think home and their families with the country benefiting from such investment”.

“We take up the full responsibility from land acquisition in viable areas or specific locations required by our clients and we provide the necessary designs and government building approvals and subsequently develop the properties according to cash flow pattern and financial ability of the clients. We also ensure that our services are absolutely affordable and cheaper than other options.  We add economic value to the country by building houses in various parts of Nigeria for all Nigerians in diaspora who at one point or the other had been frustrated and defrauded by friends and relatives in the course of trying to build houses on their behalf. These funds are coming from overseas into the Nigerian real estate sector of the economy and providing employment for Nigerians”.

Speaking on the need for the government to initiate schemes that will provide shelter for the citizenry, she said:”We solicit that the Federal Government should come up with schemes that would provide shelter for its citizens considering the growing population”.

 

(TheNewsGuru)

Eliel Group promotes real estate with new elevator technology

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Eliel Group promotes real estate with new elevator technology

In order to encourage competition and promote quality standards in the Nigerian real estate sector, Eliel Jerahmeal Nigeria Limited and Weibo elevator company have partnered to provide the best of Webber elevator brands to strengthen industry operation in African region. In a media chart with newsmen in Lagos, the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Eliel Group of Companies, Mrs Damilola Adefemi said that building construction in Nigeria requires first class equipment to meet world class standard and also to build trust and confidence among your clients.

According to her, “the only way real estate sector in Nigeria can make meaningful impact in nation building is by approaching building construction in the country with world class building equipment and this is the reason behind our franchise to market and sale Webber elevators, a modern technology equipment that promotes real estate operation”.

Mrs Adefemi said that our company, Eliel Jerahmeal Nigeria limited has the exclusive franchise for marketing and sales of Webber elevators in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Ivory coast. “These elevators she said, are used in offices, homes, hotels, factories, hospitals, showrooms, malls, conference centres and so many other facilities”. Its operation is needed in all places and by all people to move people and goods including cars and machines up and down within a building” Continuing, Mrs Adefemi told media men that because of its technology build-up, Webber is a unique brand of elevators, escalators and travelators which makes its operate more efficiently and it guarantees smooth operation, quieter, fast and it has a very special traction system which makes it totally different and with absolutely minimal maintenance unlike others.

She said further that Webber elevators are also the only High Tech elevators that operate with the VVVF technology which allows the doors to align perfectly without any complication whatsoever. “Despite its high quality operation and one of the best in the industry, it is the most affordable in the Nigerian market today by virtue of its superb technology. Following the fast growing real estate business in Nigeria, the environment is highly conducive for marketing Webber elevators as Nigeria is still developing in terms of infrastructure.

(vanguardngr)

Cyber-security report shows increase in threat to servers

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Cyber-security report shows increase in threat to servers

Networking giant, Cisco, has advised governments and organisations on the need to demonstrate huge security capabilities, having discovered dramatic increase in spam volume as well as huge server vulnerabilities.

In its 2017 Annual Cybersecurity Report (ACR), which also showed the true cost of cybercrime, Cisco informed that attackers now launch more attacks against servers. Click here to download report…

Attacks on server can run the company or organisation down by making hitherto closed information available to attackers; this is even as the breaches impact the firm financially.

The Cisco report showed servers became 34 per cent more vulnerable to attacks, compared to client (8%) and networks (20%) in 2016.

According to the report, over one-third of organisations that experienced a breach in 2016 reported substantial customer, opportunity and revenue loss of more than 20 per cent.

Cisco noted that 90 per cent of these organisations are improving threat defence technologies and processes after attacks by separating IT and security functions (38 per cent), increasing security awareness training for employees (38%), and implementing risk mitigation techniques (37%). The report surveyed nearly 3,000 chief security officers (CSOs) and security operations leaders from 13 countries in the Security Capabilities Benchmark Study, part of the Cisco ACR.

The global report highlighted challenges and opportunities for security teams to defend against the relentless evolution of cybercrime and shifting attack modes.

According to the networking company, CSOs cite budget constraints, poor compatibility of systems, and a lack of trained talent as the biggest barriers to advancing their security postures. Leaders also revealed that their security departments are increasingly complex environments with 65 per cent of organisations using from six to more than 50 security products, increasing the potential for security effectiveness gaps.

To exploit these gaps, ACR data showed criminals leading a resurgence of “classic” attack vectors, such as adware and email spam, the latter at levels not seen since 2010. Spam accounts for nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) of emails with eight to 10 per cent cited as malicious.

Global spam volume is rising, often spread by large and thriving botnets.

Cybersecurity has changed drastically since the inaugural Cisco ACR in 2007. While technology has helped attacks become more damaging and defences become more sophisticated, the foundation of security remains as important as ever. In 2007, the ACR reported web and business applications were targets, often via social engineering, or user-introduced infractions. In 2017, hackers attack cloud-based applications, and spam has escalated.

The 2017 ACR reports that just 56 percent of security alerts are investigated and less than half of legitimate alerts remediated. Defenders, while confident in their tools, battle complexity and manpower challenges, leaving gaps of time and space for attackers to utilise to their advantage.

Cisco advises organisations to take steps to prevent, detect, and mitigate threats and minimise risk.

These steps include; making security a business priority: Executive leadership must own and evangelise security and fund it as a priority. Measure operational discipline: Review security practices, patch, and control access points to network systems, applications, functions, and data. Test security effectiveness: Establish clear metrics. Use them to validate and improve security practices. Adopt an integrated defence approach: Make integration and automation high on the list of assessment criteria to increase visibility, streamline interoperability, and reduce the time to detect and stop attacks. Security teams then can focus on investigating and resolving true threats.

General Manager, Cisco Nigeria, Olakunle Oluruntimehin, noted that the penetration of mobile and growth in Internet usage also means that “we are more vulnerable to cybercrimes. That is why we leverage our partners, the Cisco Networking Academy programme and certifications in addition to typical customer enablement activities to grow our Security market share.

“We have a growing list of over 300 partners in Nigeria, covering Security in Verticals like Retail, Financial Services, Oil, Healthcare, Hospitality and Public Sector. The Cisco Networking Academy is expanding its causes to include Security Everywhere by providing knowledge and capacity building partnering with government and private educational institutions; this actually aligns with the skills development and jobs creation goal of the Government ensuring that we are also increasing skills in Security IT. We currently have over 130 academies in Nigeria and have more Academies joining this number on a quarterly basis.”

Report: Customs Responsible for 82% of Ports Charges

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Report: Customs Responsible for 82% of Ports Charges

A study by a leading accounting firm, Akintola Williams Deloitte, showed that the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) processes are responsible for about 82.1 per cent of the charges incurred by consignees. Click here to download full report…

Specifically, the accounting firm blamed the high cost of doing business at the nation’s seaports on the NCS and other government agencies.
This was contained in an industry report titled “Public Private Partnership (PPP) as an anchor for diversifying the Nigeria economy: Lagos Container Terminals Concession
as a Case Study” which it released over weekend.

According to the accounting firm, its value chain analysis of a 20-foot container laden with cargo worth N44.42million ($100,000) imported into Nigeria from China, revealed that about N6.5million would be required to clear and transport the container out of the port.

It said of this amount, about N5.3million (representing 82.1 per cent) is paid to the NCS as Import Duty, Comprehensive Import Supervision Scheme (CISS), ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS), Port Development Surcharge and Value Added Tax.
The firm further noted that other actors in the value chain include Shipping Companies, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Terminal Operators, Clearing Companies and Haulage Services providers.

It said Shipping Companies are responsible for 13.8 per cent of the port cost (N897,000); Terminal Operators 1.8 per cent (N117,000); Customs 82.1 per cent (N5.3million); Transporters 1.1 per cent (N71,500) and Clearing Agents (N78,000).
The report added: “The value chain of a typical container terminal operations begin with the shipment of the goods through a shipping line to the host country. The Consignee pays the freight charges for the shipping as well as the container deposit fees. Demurrage charges may apply where the Consignee fails to return the containers on time.

“Upon arrival of the container at the Nigeria port, the Consignees pay Terminal Handling Charges, storage charges, delivery charges and customs examination charges to the Terminal Operators. In addition, the Consignees also pay the relevant customs import duty.
“Consignees pay for logistics services to get the goods out of the terminal.

“Consignees pay for services of the clearing agents (where applicable). Large companies are directly responsible for clearing their goods.”
Notwithstanding their huge investment and meager earnings, the report stated that Terminal Operators bear the burden of most of the challenges at the port.

“Terminal Operators face huge challenges in the area of storage as the terminals are used as “cheap storage warehouse alternatives” by cargo owners.
“The current policy provides for a free 3 days storage after which a charge of N900 is applied per day and regulated by the NPA. Importers take advantage of the low storage charges offered by the Terminal Operators to store their imported goods at
the terminal as opposed to a site warehousing facilities that charge as much as N60,000 per day,” it stated.

Furthermore, it noted that before the port reform and concession of 2006, the Nigerian port system faced major challenges which made it highly inefficient. “The average ship waiting time before berthing was 21 days, vessel turnaround time was five days while dwell time for cargo was as high as over 30 days. The ports had poor infrastructure (roads, rail, quay, buildings, equipment, and yard) and were heavily congested leading
to insecurity and pilferage, delays in cargo clearance and inefficiencies in cargo handling largely due to manual processes.
“As a result of the challenges, the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2006, concessioned the ports to 25 Terminals Operators over a 25-year license period.

“The primary aim of the port concession agreement was to eradicate the poor state of the ports, increase capacity
and promote economic growth and development via the Nigerian ports.
“The federal government adopted the Land Lord model for port operations which gave exclusive rights to the Terminal Operators (“the Concessionaires”) to operate, maintain and carry out investments on port facilities, within designated terminals while the NPA retains ownership of the terminals.

“The “Land Lord” model reduces the financial burden on the federal government as the terminal operators are responsible for both infrastructure development and annual concession fees in the form of lease fees and throughput fees.
“The tenure of the Nigerian concession agreements ranged from 15 to 25 years and the estimated revenue to government from the concession agreement is estimated at $6.54 billion2 over the period,” the report further stated.

It said as a direct impact of investments by terminal operators, the ports have witnessed increased ship traffic and throughput which has led to a 400% rise in container throughput from 400,000 TEUs in 2006 to 1.6 million TEUs in 2014. “The investments have also led to the eradication of ship waiting time at the container terminals, as ships now berth on arrival. Vessel turnaround time has been reduced to from 5 days to 41 hours while average dwell time for cargo clearance went from over 30 days to just 14 days.

“In addition, due to improved security and lighting of the terminals, the ports now run a 24 hours and 7 days a week operations. This has been made possible by the investments and transformations made at the ports by the Terminal Operators,” it stated.
The Akintola Williams Deloitte port industry report added that port concession saves Nigerian importers and exporters about $800million (N244 billion) annually, which was hitherto paid to shipping companies as congestion surcharge.

(Thisdaylive)

Sterling Bank Obtains $15m Icd Facility

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Sterling Bank Obtains $15m Icd Facility

In recognition of its contribution to the growth of Islamic banking in Nigeria, , the non-interest banking unit of Sterling Bank Plc has attracted a $15 million facility from the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), a multilateral development financial institution and a part of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group.

Recall that the bank in 2014 and 2015 also received US$25 million from the International Islamic Finance Trade Corporation (ITFC) and US$30 million from the ICD. Both institutions are members of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group. In the same vein, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had approved an array of innovative non-interest financial instruments which will keep the franchise ahead of industry performance.

ICD was established in November 1999 to support the economic development of its member countries through the provision of finance for private sector projects, promoting competition and entrepreneurship, providing advisory services to the governments and private companies and encouraging cross border investments.

The bank, in a statement, noted that ICD extended the facility in view of its ability to use non interest banking contracts to structure transactions in innovative ways and the judicious use of past facility extended to it, adding that the fund would provide much-needed liquidity to finance additional projects for the benefit of the public.

While assuring that the bank would make good use of the facility, it also stated that the bank would continue to support the overall objectives of ICD which is mainly to finance projects and provide a wide range of financial products and services, support the development of Islamic financing in Nigeria and beyond through business expansion and complement the role played by ICD in the promotion of the private sector as a vehicle for boosting economic growth and prosperity.

Facebook imitates Snapchat yet again, launches ‘stories, camera filters’

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Facebook imitates Snapchat yet again, launches ‘stories, camera filters’

After imitating several Snapchat features, Facebook has gone one step further in its attempt to clone the video-sharing platform.

Facebook has launched a feature which enables users share stories with friends and see what friends have been up to.

After 24 hours, posts in Facebook ‘Stories’ disappear forever – just like Snapchat.

Facebook has also introduced ‘Direct’ and ‘Camera Effects’.

Direct is a new inbox for direct messages. It allows users to share disappearing photos and videos with one or multiple friends and/or reply to friends’ stories.

Recipients can view the photo or video once and respond, after which the original disappears forever.

The Facebook camera effects functions the same way Snapchat filters.

The social network platform is rolling out several special effects, like masks, frames, and interactive filters that users can add to their photos.

Branded filters from movies will also be available on the camera effects.

New Poll Confirms Circulation of Counterfeit Naira Notes

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New Poll Confirms Circulation of Counterfeit Naira Notes

A new poll released by NOIPolls has revealed that 41 percent of respondents are aware of the recent circulation of counterfeit currencies (also known as fake Naira notes) in the country, and 19 percent of this proportion disclosed that they have personally come in contact with counterfeit currencies within the last three months. The market with 67 percent, proved to be the most common place where these currencies are circulated. This comes as no surprise, as some counterfeiters may see the market place as the most porous place to spread fake notes due to the wide range of small business establishments who may not notice during transactions. Hence, some businesses suffer losses due to their inability to recoup their money as banks confiscate fake notes at sight. Commercial banks (20 percent), public transport (5 percent) and ATMs (3 percent) were also mentioned as avenues for circulation. Further probing revealed that only 5 percent of the respondents admitted to spending the fake Naira notes that came into their possession.

More findings from the poll revealed that there is some level of awareness of the circulation of counterfeit naira notes in the country as 41 percent admitted that they have been privy to such information, mainly through word of mouth (53 percent) and traditional media (25 percent) amongst others; although the majority (59 percent) showed no awareness. In addition, while the Naira notes are protected by a number of security features to enable the recognition of genuine notes, the distinguishing features can immediately be recognized by touch and visibility such as the raised print, the security thread and the watermark, to mention a few. In line with this, some Nigerians are knowledgeable of these features, citing texture (42 percent) and the absence of the distorted hologram (25 percent) as ways of distinguishing between genuine and fake notes.

Lastly, 56 percent of the respondents are of the opinion that the Central Bank of Nigeria is not doing enough to create awareness about the circulation of these counterfeit currencies, neither are they giving citizens adequate tips on how to detect them. The implication of this is that more fake Naira notes may be allowed to circulate in the society.  This in turn will lead to a reduction in the value of the genuine currency;  increase in prices (inflation) due to more money getting circulated in the economy, an unauthorised artificial increase in money supply; and losses, when traders are not reimbursed for counterfeit money detected and confiscated by banks. This suggests that the Central Bank of Nigeria needs to do more to create awareness on the implications of the circulation of fake currencies, as well as provide tips on how to detect a fake currency. These are some of the key findings from the Counterfeit Currencies poll conducted in the week commencing March 6th, 2017.

Brief Background

When a currency is forged and produced illegally other than by the recognized authority of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and is used or is intended to be used as a legal tender in the country, it is referred to as a counterfeit or fake currency. These currencies are produced without the legal permission of the state or government and are fashioned to replicate an original. The act of producing counterfeit currencies amounts to forgery or fraud , a criminal act contrary to Section 6(1)(b) of the Counterfeit Currency, Special Provisions Act, CAP C35, LFN 2004 and punishable under section 5(1) of the same Act. Some of the ill-effects that the circulation of counterfeit money can have on a society include,a reduction in the value of genuine currencies; and increase in prices (inflation) due to unauthorized injection of counterfeit money in the economy; a decrease in the acceptability of original notes; and losses, when traders are not reimbursed for counterfeit money detected by banks, even if it is confiscated.

The most recent statement regarding the circulation of fake currencies was made in February 2017 by a former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) who put the percentage of fake currencies in circulation in Nigeria at 20 percent. Nonetheless, the apex bank has stated that no currency in the world is immune to counterfeiting; but did state that the rate of counterfeit currency in Nigeria has been very minimal due to appropriate policies that had been put in place by the bank. It put the exact rate of prevalenceof fake notes in Nigeria from January to December 2016 at less than one per cent (0.0014%) or 14 counterfeit pieces out of one million bank notes.

In spite of the existence of a decree against this vice and some currency restructuring by the apex bank over the years; the nation has continually recorded cases of circulation of counterfeit Naira notes over the years. In recent times during the last quarter of 2016 and first quarter 2017, several arrests were made regarding money counterfeiting related offences across the northern and southern divide. This seems to suggest that currency counterfeiting is on the rise and constitutes a strong threat to the economic situation of the country. Against this background, NOIPolls conducted a survey to gauge the perception of Nigerians regarding the circulation of fake currencies in Nigeria within the last three months; with the objective of finding out if Nigerians are able to distinguish between fake and original notes.

Survey Findings

The poll sought to gauge the awareness of Nigerians on the recent circulation of counterfeit currencies in Nigeria and the results revealed that 41 percent said they were aware, while 59 percent claimed to be unaware of the recent circulation of counterfeit currencies in the country. Respondents who were unaware had their interviews terminated at this point whereas those who said yes continued with the interview.

Further probing revealed that slightly more than half of the respondents who are aware of the recent circulation of counterfeit currencies reported that they got to hear about it through word of mouth (53 percent) while 25 percent mentioned traditional media. Interestingly 15 percent disclosed that they had personal experience and this implies that they must have at some point being in possession of fake Naira notes. Other sources mentioned include; social media (10 percent), market place (3 percent) and commercial bank (2 percent).

More analysis showed that residents from the South-South zone (67 percent) and the North-East zone (61 percent) formed the largest proportion of Nigerians that indicated that they heard about the recent circulation of counterfeit currencies through word of mouth. In the same manner, residents from the South-East zone (27 percent) had the highest representation of respondents that mentioned that they had a personal experience with counterfeit currencies which could be attributed to the daily heavy commercial activities in the area, causing these fake notes to go unnoticed by business establishments until they get to the point of depositing them in a commercial bank.[7] In addition, the age group of 18 – 35 years are the majority (14 percent) that said they heard about the recent circulation via social media and this is truly a representation of the set of citizens that are social media savvy.

Almost 2 in 10 Nigerians (19 percent) further disclosed that they have personally come in contact with counterfeit Naira notes in the last three months while the larger proportion of Nigerians (81 percent) claimed not to have had any personal contact with counterfeit currencies. Out of the 19 percent who had come in contact with fake Naira notes, 67 percent (which formed majority in this category) reported they came in contact with counterfeit notes at the market place. 20 percent confirmed that they got to know about the notes at the point of deposit in commercial banks. Most of these cases mainly occurred in the South-East zone with 38 percent of respondents attesting to this. Other points of contact disclosed include public transport and ATMs amongst other places.

Subsequently, only 5 percent of the respondent who had encountered these fake currencies revealed that they spent it despite knowing they were counterfeit whereas, 95 percent said that they did not spend the money.

In addition, respondents were asked how they could differentiate between a fake and an original Naira note and 43 percent mentioned the difference in texture, 23 percent knew by checking the holograph of the face images on the notes while, 18 percent indicated the difference in colour when compared with an original Naira note of the same denomination. Other mentions include the silver lining on the notes (8 percent) and the watermark (6 percent) amongst others differences.

Lastly, the poll has shown that a larger proportion of Nigerians (56 percent) are of the view that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other stakeholders are not doing enough in terms of awareness creation about the circulation of these counterfeit currencies as well as educating citizens on how to differentiate between an original currency and a fake one. Contrarily, 44 percent opined that the CBN is doing a good job in spreading awareness about fake notes circulation and how to detect them.

In conclusion, findings from this survey revealed that 41 percent of Nigerians acknowledged awareness of the recent circulation of counterfeit currencies in the country with 53 percent of this proportion got awareness through word of mouth. Though 81 percent (which forms the majority) said they have not personally come in contact with the counterfeit currencies in circulation recently, 19 percent admitted to have come in contact with the fake currencies on a personal basis and the largest proportion (67 percent) of those who came in contact with it stated that they encountered it while making a transaction in the market place.

This implies that there is a need for the Central Bank of Nigeria to invest manpower, time and resources in tackling the circulation of counterfeit Naira notes, while also working intensively to educate the entire populace about the existence of the fake currencies and how to spot them. Additionally, businesses should also train their staff, especially the ones in direct contact with cash from prospective customers on how to detect fake currencies as this can cripple their businesses if left unchecked.

Survey Methods

The opinion poll was conducted in the week commencing March 6th, 2017. It involved telephone interviews of a random nationwide sample. 1,000 randomly selected phone-owning Nigerians aged 18 years and above, representing the six geo-political zones in the country, were interviewed. With a sample of this size, we can say with 95% confidence that the results obtained are statistically precise – within a range of plus or minus 3%. NOIPolls Limited is the No1 for country specific polling services in West Africa. We conduct periodic opinion polls and studies on various socio-economic and political issues in Nigeria. More information is available at www.noi-polls.com 

 

Disclaimer
This press release has been produced by NOIPolls Limited to provide information on all issues which form the subject matter of the document. Kindly note that while we are willing to share results from our polls with the general public, we only request that NOIPolls be acknowledged as author whenever and wherever our poll results are used, cited or published. 
NOIPolls hereby certifies that all the views expressed in this document accurately reflect its views of respondents surveyed for the poll, and background information is based on information from various sources that it believes are reliable; however, no representation is made that it is accurate or complete. Whilst reasonable care has been taken in preparing this document, no responsibility or liability is accepted for errors or fact or for any views expressed herein by NOIPolls for actions taken as a result of information provided in this report. Any ratings, forecasts, estimates, opinions or views herein constitute a judgment as at the date of this document. If the date of this document is not current, the views and content may not reflect NOIPolls’ current findings and/or thinking.
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