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.
