Nigeria to ditch tougher polymer for paper bankno

Lagos - Nigeria is to revert to paper banknotes, the central bank has announced, in a policy switch bucking a growing trend around the world for tougher polymer-based currency.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) signed a deal in 2006 with Australia's Securency International to print lower more-circulated units of the naira in polymer, while higher denominations were kept in paper form.

But six years down the line -- and after allegations that the manufacturer bribed foreign officials to secure contracts, including in Nigeria -- the CBN said it was being forced to reverse the policy.

"Polymer has been on a test run since 2007. This explains why we did not go the whole hog by printing all the notes in polymer," central bank spokesman Ugochukwu Okoroafor told AFP.

"We only used polymer for N5, N10, N20 and N50, while N100, N200, N500 and N1,000 are in paper form.

"We soon discovered that the (polymer) notes easily fade out because of our peculiar hot climate in Nigeria... making them look tattered when in use over time."

Earlier experiments indicated that the polymer-based notes, which are in use in 23 countries around the world, including Australia, could last longer than traditional cotton-paper notes.

But the central bank said there had been a public outcry about the poorer quality of some of the new currency in circulation.

Securency International was reported to have supplied 1.9 billion of its Guardian brand polymer-based notes to Nigeria between 2006 and 2008.

In the wake of the bribery claims, the Reserve Bank of Australia sold its 50 percent stake in the firm.

Innovia Security, which bought out Securency International earlier this year, said it did not comment on clients or their business but added that a number of countries with hot and humid climates used their product.

"We have had no issues of premature ink wear or colour fading in these markets," a spokesman said in an emailed statement.