Samson Ayomide
Nigerians were on Monday assured by the Central Bank of Nigeria has assured that it has implemented monitoring mechanisms to ensure that deposit money banks fulfill the legitimate foreign exchange demands of customers.
The assurance was coming on the heels of a directive given by the CBN to Commecrcial banks that they should start the sale of forex to customers for invisibles such as basic travel allowance, personal travel allowance and medical and tuition fees.
Osita Nwanisobi, acting Director in charge of Corporate Communications, gave the assurance in a statement issued by the bank.
During an interaction with journalists in Abuja, Nwanisobi disclosed that the CBN had put in place monitoring mechanism to guarantee the seamless sale of forex to customers who supported their requests with relevant documentation.
He stated that the CBN had received the commitment of the banks, through their chief executive officers, that customers with legitimate requests would not be turned back.
He refuted the rumours making the rounds that the CBN planned to convert the forex in the domiciliary accounts of customers into Naira to check purported shortage of availability of dollars.
He said: “the CBN never planned to tamper with the foreign exchange deposits in the accounts of customers, insisted that those making such allegations were criminal speculators whose intention was to create panic in the foreign exchange market.”
The CBN’s spokes person stated that at no time did the CBN ever suggest or imply that it would tinker with the foreign exchange deposits of customers.
He, therefore, urged operators of domiciliary accounts and other members of the banking public to go about their legitimate forex transactions and disregard fictitious stories aimed at pitching them against the apex bank and triggering chaos in the system.
