The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has asked Nigerians to ignore reports that domiciliary account operators have been directed to convert their holdings into naira.
In a statement on Saturday, CBN’s Director of Corporate Communications, Osita Nwanisobi, said the purported directive was not from the bank.
According to him, the nation’s financial regulator is aware of a circular with a fake CBN logo issuing the said directive to Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs), and members of the public.
Nwanisobi stressed that the CBN did not plan such a line of action and would have no reason to make a decision of such, saying the directive was intended to cause panic in the foreign exchange market.
“We wish to reiterate that the Bank has not contemplated, and will never contemplate, any such line of action. The speculation is a completely false narrative aimed at triggering panic in the foreign exchange market,” he said.
The CBN spokesman, therefore, appealed to domiciliary accounts operators and members of the banking public to go about their legitimate foreign exchange transactions.
He asked them to be mindful of misleading circulars, adding that any circular issued by the bank would be posted on its website (www.cbn.gov.ng).
Nwanisobi warned against the unauthorised use of the CBN logo, saying appropriate authorities were already making efforts to apprehend those behind the misleading circular.
Read the statement from the CBN below:
Central Bank of Nigeria
Press Release
CBN Categorically Denies and Strongly Condemns Peddlers of, Rumour on Domiciliary Account Holdings
The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been drawn to a fake circulation, in social media circles, of a circular with a fake CBN logo curiously dated “13 September 2021”, and purportedly issued by its Trade and Exchange Department to the effect that all Deposit Money Banks, International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) and members of the public are to convert domiciliary account holdings into naira.
We wish to reiterate that the Bank has not contemplated, and will never contemplate, any such line of action. The speculation is a completely false narrative aimed at triggering panic in the foreign exchange market.
It will be recalled that the Bank had previously assured members of the public that there was no plan whatsoever to convert the foreign exchange in the domiciliary accounts of customers into Naira in order to check purported shortage of availability of the United States dollars.
Operators of domiciliary accounts and other members of the banking public are therefore advised to completely disregard these fictitious documents and malicious rumours, and go about their legitimate foreign exchange transactions, as we have no doubt that these rumours are only aimed at impugning the integrity of the CBN and activating chaos in the system.
The public should note that any circular issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is posted on its website (www.cbn.gov.ng) for the attention of the general public.
We also wish to warn corporate bodies and members of the public against the unauthorised use of the Bank’s logo for any purpose whatsoever.
We have drawn the attention of appropriate authorities to this and culprits will be sanctioned accordingly.
Osita Nwanisobi
Director, Corporate Communications
September 11, 2021
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