Nigerians have been asked to ignore growing speculations that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will prosecute anyone that keeps the United States (US) dollars in their homes.
The CBN governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, who addressed several critical economic issues on Tuesday, said the rumour being spread by some members of the public, was not true.
Emefiele said that the apex bank has no plan to jail Nigerians for keeping dollars in their homes.
He told journalists at a news conference in Abuja on Tuesday that there was no provision in Nigeria’s foreign exchange regulations that empowers the CBN to prosecute anybody for confiscateing their dollars.
The CBN governor however said that he was aware that the Nigerian Law Reforms Commission (NLRC) was considering the review of the foreign exchange regulations, which he described as a routine.
According to him: “The NLRC is an agency of government that has the responsibility of reviewing all laws in the country from time to time, depending on exigencies,” but remarked that the CBN had not been contacted on the issue.
He added: “I am saying categorically that if we are contacted or whenever it becomes an issue for discussion, we would suggest and advise against a clause that forbids people from keeping their dollars if they choose to or a law that says people should be jailed for keeping foreign currency.
“Again, there is nothing in our current and extant foreign currency laws and regulations that says that Nigerians will be jailed or that their foreign currencies will be confiscated. I advise people to please stop listening to rumour mongers.’’
On the risk faced by Nigerian banks under the current recession, Emefiele said that like banks in other countries, the country’s banks were not immune to the global economic challenges.
He said: “Normally, in any economy, when there is a slow down or there is even a recession, naturally, financial institutions, particularly banks, will face certain risks. That imposes on the regulators a great challenge to ensure that they strengthen their guidelines to ensure that the banks and particularly depositors are protected.
“Nigerian banks like other banks in other climes are facing risks but those risks are surmountable. The CBN is doing its best to ensure that these risks do not get to a point where we begin to talk of depositors risking their deposits,’’ Emefeile stated.
Asked on what measures the apex bank had taken to stimulate the economy, Emefiele said that it evolved workable measures and intervened in various situations in line with the enabling act to strengthen the banks and boost development of financial activities.
The intervention measures, Emefiele said, were taken to channel funds at low interest rates to the major sectors of the economy, declaring that there was re
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