The Central Bank of Nigeria said the recent appreciation of the Naira against other currencies was the result of its market monitoring and intervention.
The Acting Director, Corporate Communications of the CBN, Mr Isaac Okoroafor, on Thursday in Sokoto refuted the claim that the allegations by Mr Babatunde Gbadamosi on the illegal sales of foreign currencies at ridiculous rates were responsible for the change in forex policy.
Gbadamosi, a Lagos businessman and former governorship candidate, made allegations of racketeering against the CBN and disparity in allocation of foreign exchange to cronies of the present administration.
He further accused the CBN of selling dollars to some people for as low as N3 to a dollar.
The CBN, however, released a statement clarifying that the transactions in question were third party transactions like Japanese Yen to the South African Rand or Euros to U.S Dollars.
The CBN also directed banks to file returns on the sale of foreign currencies in dollars to avoid ambiguities and misinterpretations in future.
Okoroafor said also that the appreciation of the Naira was in no way connected to the allegations of Gbadamosi.
He said, “I want to state categorically that there is no relationship whatsoever between the allegations by the so-called person [Gbadamosi] that dollar was being sold at 61 kobo and the current appreciation of the Naira.
“What led to the appreciation of the Naira includes the following:
“The CBN has done its intelligence work on the market and we came to the realisation that much of what was driving the demand on the BDCs and the parallel market was speculation.
“We reasoned that since there is a lot of pressure on the two segments from people seeking to buy foreign currencies for BTA, tuition and medical, that if we successfully address that, the pressure will come down.
“Also, before now, the level of our reserves was not enough to make us comfortable to really do the kind of intervention that is required.
“We decided to do so now because we are a bit more comfortable with our level of reserve.”
Okoroafor said that since the new forex policy, the CBN had intervened with about $591m in the market which had led to Naira gaining strength.
He said, “Let me also state as proof that when we placed $500 in the market only $370 was taken.
“That tells you that the real demand is $370m. When we placed $230m in the market, only $221m was taken.
“Anybody who has run afoul of the law, and the security agencies have caught up with him, should go and face his or her case and stop causing confusion amongst participants in the market.”
Meanwhile,
The Lagos State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has condemned the arrest of its chieftain and ex-governorship aspirant, Babatunde Gbadamosi by the Department of State Service, DSS.
It has, therefore, vowed to expose the government agency
The party also accused the rulung All Progressives Congress, APC, of masterminding the arrest, saying it was all about the forthcoming council poll in Lagos.
According to the party, “the whereabouts of the kidnapped or arrested chieftain is still unknown and the only clue known is that some men identified as DSS officials forced their ways into the chieftains compound at about 1am, ransacked his home and assaulted all who cared to know reasons for his arrest at that odd hours.
“This arrest has confirmed intelligence report from within the security agencies that the DSS and some other government agencies have their lists of some Lagos state PDP members and supporters whom they plan to arrest between now and June and under various false allegations, with a view to silence us or disorganise our strategies for the council polls now slated for June this year.
“We are crying out to the world to ‘Save Our Soul’. We are no more safe in our own land. The security agencies have been mandated to go after us and harass us, unless we stop criticising the APC government. This arrest of Gbadamosi is unwarranted. He has not been mentioned in any of the alleged stolen funds. He has only been speaking out for the masses. He is not a government contractor.
“The DSS has obviously become a bully! Set out to harass, arrest and liquidate our persons and businesses. We cannot be cowed, rather we shall be more dogged, resolute and our skin thickened against this APC led disgraceful DSS and government.
“We give the DSS reasonable period of 48 hours to release Gbadamosi and cease from further harassment of our members, failure which we shall expose the new Fascist roles of the DSS to the world.”
