The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has shed light on the statement made by the Governor, Godwin Emefiele, after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on Tuesday.briefing, warning bank customers against converting the naira to foreign exchange, for electioneering purposes.
The Bank’s Director, Corporate Communications Department, Osita Nwanisobi, made the clarification in a chat with newsmen in Lagos, on Wednesday following what he described as “attempts by persons to deliberately misrepresent the significance of Emefiele’s caution on electioneering spending by the political class.
Nwanisobi said the warning by the CBN Governor was referred to those seeking to convert the Naira from their accounts into foreign exchange for election campaign and not those who seek to exchange the currency for legitimate purposes such as payment for tuition and other personal expenses.
Reiterating the Bank’s position, he said the CBN also frowned at the conduct of unauthorized movement of funds within and outside the country and would use tools at its disposal to check the movement of illicit funds.
Nwanisobi stressed that the CBN, in line with its mandate, has discretionary power to prevent persons from conducting unauthorized transactions and was within its statutory limits to mop up the excess liquidity in the vaults of the institutions its regulates, so they do not get involved in speculative activities.
He therefore, advised Bank customers not to get involved in unauthorized movement of funds for currency conversion in order not to fall foul of the extant laws of the land.
Nwanisobi also cautioned Nigerians to be more patriotic with regards to the use of the Naira, noting that it is the duty of every citizen to support the CBN in preserving the intra-national value of the local currency.
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