The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has stated that it will hunt Nigerians who buy forex for Personal Travel purposes and later cancel such trips. The plan of the apex bank, with the support of the commercial banks, is to find the buyers and force them to return currencies bought under such disguise.
This was disclosed by the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele during the Monetary Policy Council meeting which was held today, Friday, September 17, 2021.
The apex bank’s resolve is coming on the heels of the activities of some Nigerians who approach the banks to purchase forex under legitimate guises, only to turn around to sell the forex at the black market.
What the CBN Governor said
The CBN governor warned such bank customers involved in these fraudulent and unethical practices to desist from it, as they will be found out and forced to return the currency.
“People buy FX from banks with PTA/BTA and cancel the flight later. We will find them and they must return the currency,” Emefiele said.
The CBN Governor also used the opportunity to once again reiterate the illegality of the operations of the black market and to justify the ban on the sale of foreign exchange to bureau de change operators in the country.
“The only exchange rate market is the Investors and Exporters window, which is the market that we expect everybody that wants to buy or sell dollars to use.
“I am sorry to say: I do not recognise any other market. We’ve asked ourselves at the CBN, why did we have to wait so long?
“CBN remained the only central bank in the world to dip its hands into our commonwealth mad pack dollars to BDCs all in an effort to stabilise the exchange rate,” he said.
