By John Ikani
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has warned citizens of Africa’s most populous country against converting the local unit (naira) to dollar, stressing that it would place a post-no debit on bank account(s) of any customer violating this rule.
The warning was issued by the Governor of the apex bank Godwin Emefiele during the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on Tuesday 19 July 2022.
Emefiele was worried that politicians are giving priority to the dollar instead of naira amid rising electioneering spending.
According to him, such action of is against the apex bank’s foreign exchange policy rules.
What the CBN is saying
“As far as we are concerned, we monitor liquidity in the subsystem. We will use our powers to mop up 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 bank 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.”
