As the naira continues spiraling downwards, the Central Bank of Nigeria is helplessly looking for a magic wand that will stop the currency from hitting the bottom.
With its efforts yielding no good results so far, the CBN has notably taken no responsibility. The financial regulator has over the months accused people and organizations of sabotaging the naira.
Last September, the CBN un-substantially accused AbokiFX, an exchange rates aggregator, of manipulating Nigeria’s foreign exchange market. It was one of the many accusing fingers the apex bank has pointed at wrong alibis for the naira’s predicament.
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Now, the CBN has threatened to arrest and prosecute Nigerians using naira to buy dollars.
“For those taking money from banks to buy dollars, it is illegal to do so. If the security agencies hold you, you will know the implication of that,” Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor, said Tuesday at the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Lagos.
By his statement, Emefiele is attributing the naira’s abysmal performance to banks’ customers taking money from the banks to buy dollars.
He asked Nigerians illegally exchanging naira for dollar to stop because the CBN would conduct investigations and bar those found culpable from conducting transactions in Nigerian banks.
In addition, he disclosed that the apex bank is keeping an eye on customers and banks, warning that it wouldn’t hesitate to sanction banks caught in illegal transactions.
“We will conduct investigations, and we will have proof, and you will not be able to conduct transactions in any Nigerian bank. We will place ‘post no debit’ on the defaulting customer’s account. It is a very injurious tool to stop you from conducting illegal flows, either domestic or foreign currency,” the CBN governor said.
On Tuesday, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) raised interest rate to 14%, a decision it took to curtail rising inflation spurred by the naira’s crash.
On Monday, the naira recorded its lowest at the parallel market, trading N630/$1 and N430/$1 at the Investor & Exporter window.
Efforts by the CBN to stop the naira from its free-fall, including its decision on July 2021 to stop foreign exchange transactions with bureau de change, giving it to the banks, have been described by financial analysts as ‘beating about the bush.’
They said the CBN has taken to blame instead of doing its job of making sound monetary policies that will help the naira to regain its strength in the FX market. Business leaders have also said that Nigeria needs to shift from consumption to production to save the naira.
“Naira will not advance unless Nigeria begins to make things. All the financial engineering in CBN headquarters is hopeless in the long-term. Naira will be saved through factories and warehouses, and we hope CBN and the government will help those communities,” Prof. Ndubuisi Ekekwe, Tekedia Institute, said.
Na dey problem of this country be that ? ? Mumu people make Una nor find solution for Nigeria animal and selfish government
Stupid and lazy policies. The bane of Nigeria’s problem is corruption in high places thereby strangulating the system of the capacity to produce. Always chasing after the wind.
The banks are corrupt. Money can only be transferred in usd and payed out in usd. Then change that to naira. What’s the point. If the bank is short on the difference of what you’re owed. They steal it from you,because you don’t even get the difference in naira. Now the CBN is all boohoo waawaa baby. How many mega millions/billions have been stolen from the people being short handed what they were owed.