Omodele Adigun

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has debunked a newspaper report on sleaze in the foreign exchange (forex) dealings.

In a rebuttal made available to Daily Sun yesterday, the apex bank challenged the media organisation to provide the names and evidence of collusion between the agents and officials of CBN working in cahoot to carry out the racket.

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The CBN statement read: “The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been alerted on the front page headline story in the BusinessDay newspaper on Monday, February 4, 2019 titled: “Exposed: The sleazy face of N306/$, inside Nigeria’s racket where faceless agents pocket over N32bn annually”. 

“The management of CBN wishes to react to the report wherein BusinessDay newspaper alleges that faceless agents in Nigeria are exploiting the country’s multiple exchange rates to devastating effects and allegedly with the backing of regulators. CBN wishes to state unequivocally that this report is unfounded and untrue and challenges BusinessDay to provide the names and also verifiable evidence of collusion between these faceless agents and officials of CBN, who are working to perpetuate these so-called FX racket schemes. We would also urge the management of BusinessDay to contact the CBN prior to making such spurious allegations, as we were denied the benefit of responding to this article.

“The CBN wishes to remind BusinessDay, as most financial observers have noted, that the FX rates across various markets governed and regulated by CBN, have been converging, leaving no room for arbitrage opportunities in Nigeria’s FX market. For avoidance of doubt, the CBN will continue to act in the best interest of Nigeria and shall ensure it remains focused on its core mandate of sustaining the stability in the FX market.”