The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, described as needless, the activities of foreign exchange speculators, whom he said created anxiety in the currency market lately.
The CBN governor stated that the bank had already released a circular on the issue, adding that, “there is no need to panic; anybody who has legitimate business will get foreign exchange to conduct his business. What are we saying, you want to travel? (Which we don’t advise at this time), you will get foreign exchange to travel. You want to conduct business, import? You will get foreign exchange to conduct that import transaction.
“Whatever you need foreign exchange to do. So for that reason, there is no need for you to rush.”
While he noted that it was the rush that caused the unnecessary hysteria, Emefiele added that the CBN is collaborating with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), and other security agencies to fish out the speculators.
“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is also working with us to establish the people who are involved and I can tell you that we will find them because they use accounts”, he said.
The Nigerian currency recently fell in value against the US dollar, a situation that has been widely attributed to Coronavirus and plunge in oil price.
