CBN Issues Warning to Politicians, Nigerians Converting Naira to Dollar, Reveals Penalty

• The Central bank of Nigerian has issued a serious warning to Nigerians flouting its foreign exchange policy
• Emefiele is worried that politicians are giving priority to the dollar instead of naira in their election spending
• CBN reveals the penalty and also noted that directives have been issued to commercial banks to monitor

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a stern warning to bank customers especially politicians converting Naira to the dollar.

According to CBN, the action of the bank customers is against its foreign exchange policy rules.

Governor of the apex bank Godwin Emefiele stated this during the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on Tuesday 19 July 2022.

Addressing journalists, Emefiele said the CBN would place A “Post no Debit’ on the account(s) of any customer violating its rules, the Nation reports.

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CBN Governor said:

“As far as we are concerned, we monitor liquidity in the subsystem. We will use our powers to mop us cash and for those taking money from banks to buy dollars. It is illegal to do so. If the security agencies hold you, you will know the implication of that.

“We are monitoring customers and banks, any banks involved will be sanctioned. We will place Post no Debit on the defaulting customer’s account. It is a very injurious tool to stop you from conducting illegal flows, either domestic or foreign currency.

“We will conduct investigations, and we will have proof and you will not be able to conduct transactions in any Nigerian bank.”

CBN head criticises Emefiele's decision to ban BDC operators from selling forex

Meanwhile, Obadiah Mailafia, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has criticised the decision of the apex bank to stop providing foreign exchange to bureau de change operators.

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Mailafia said the decision could weaken the value of the naira against the dollar and other foreign currencies, as there might be a scarcity of forex.

With his experience of the banking system in Nigeria, Mailafia said the banks might hoard forex for themselves and sell at a high cost to buyers whenever the lenders want.

Source: Legit.ng