The Central Bank of Nigeria has warned companies conniving with unscrupulous individuals to desist from contravening the restriction of the bank’s 41
items.
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, said refusal to heed this warning would necessitate repercussions, including threats to such defaulting company’s continued chances of doing business in Nigeria.
Emefiele, while speaking during the recently held annual bankers’ dinner organised by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, said one of the punishments for defaulters will come in the form of restrictions placed on their accounts with the
CBN.
He revealed that the CBN was working in partnership with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to punish defaulters.
“The CBN’s economic intelligence and banking supervision department will work very close with the EFCC to expose and sanction any bank or company whose directors or FX operator colluded with unscrupulous individuals or companies to undermine the policy on 41 items,” he
said.
He noted that such sanctions will include but not limited to prohibiting the banks from maintaining bank account for such institution or person in
Nigeria.
The 41 items were banned in 2015 and the decision was part of CBN’s desperate measures to control Nigerians’ demand for hard currency at a time recession was hitting hard and the economy was struggling.
Some of the 41 items banned by the apex bank were from consumer goods like rice to industrial goods like cement.
Emefiele said this measure had yielded results by encouraging local production and stimulating economic growth; hence the need to sustain it, thereby reinstating the CBN’s commitment towards ensuring that local production of goods and services are intensified in the
country.
