Governor Godwin Emefiele of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said the apex bank has discovered that a significant portion of the dollars bought by the BDCs went into illegal arms deals.
He said this, on Friday, while briefing journalists at the end of the September Monetary Policy Committee meeting of the bank.
The MPC retained all key rates, citing economic recovery as an incentive.
Emefiele vowed that the bank will go after those who are accessing dollars illegally.
“Whether it’s Boko Haram, kidnapping and all sorts of nefarious activities, BDCs take our country’s dollar and sell to people to go and buy arms and ammunition to come and hurt us.”
“That’s what people want us to continue to do. We cannot do that any longer. We can’t. If you have any legal, legitimate business you want to conduct, please take your business to a bank, they will sell you forex.
“If the amount you want is even above the limit that is recognised and we find that the reasons you are making this demand is legitimate, your bank will speak to us and we will give you more than what is the limit,” he said.
He told individuals and businesses to always approach the banks for legitimate forex needs.
He also said the CBN will continue the crackdown on those who obtain forex for fraudulent means.
“We go after people who use fake visa and other travel documents to fraudulently procure forex from the commercial banks through EFCC and other anti-graft agencies.”
“The only exchange rate that I recognize today in the Nigerian foreign exchange market which is the dominant market remains the Investors & Exporters window, which is the market that we expect everybody that wishes to procure foreign exchange or somebody who wants to sell foreign exchange, go to your bank, the Investors & Exporters window will attend to you. I’m sorry to say that I do not, and I do not intend to recognise there are any other rates in the market” he said.
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