The Governor of Nigeria’s apex bank, Godwin Emefiele, has threatened to sanction politicians who withdraw the naira in exchange for dollar speculations for election purposes.
The Central Bank of Nigeria’s boss made the statement while responding to questions from journalists, after reading the communiqué of the Monetary Policy Committee (MOC).
While harping on the likely impact of election spending on the value of the naira when compared to the dollars, Emefiele said the bank was monitoring the situation and will continue to use its monetary policy (discretionary powers) tools to mop up excess liquidity in the system, when it believes banks might be looking to facilitate election spending or speculate on forex.
On the use of forex for election purposes,the CBN governor warned those who might be considering this to avoid doing so as it was illegal.
He said “As for those who want to buy (sic) take naira from their account to buy dollars because of the election. I want to warn you that it is illegal to do so. Whereas it will sound more convenient to carry dollar because you could carry little dollars, but with a lot of value in your pocket, but if the security agencies hold you, you know the implication of that”.
Emefielealso threatened that the CBN also has monitoring tools in this possession that it can use to track the suspicious movement of forex from one account to another.
The CBN boss warned potential collaborators that the CBN is a monster and will not hesitate to use the PND to stop customers from using their accounts for any bank transactions in the country.
He added that “You can see CBN has turned itself into a monster that uses an injurious tool to stop you from conducting illegal flows, whether domestic or foreign currency. So, I will advice you not to get involved in unauthorised and illegal movement of money from your bank to your account or from one account to another account, or a currency conversion. When you do that and you are caught in that practice your account will be placed on PND”.
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