The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has dismissed speculations that it planned to convert the foreign exchange in domiciliary accounts of customers into naira.

This is coming just as the CBN has assured Nigerians of sufficient forex at the banks to meet obligations following last Monday’e ban of forex sales to BDCs.

With the ban, the CBN directed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to sell foreign exchange to customers, for Invisibles such as basic travel allowance, PTA, medical and tuition etc, the Bank has assured members of the banking public that the CBN will monitor the commercial banks to ensure they meet the legitimate FX demands of customers.

The Bank’s Acting Director in charge of Corporate Communications, Osita Nwanisobi, said that “the CBN never planned to tamper with the foreign exchange deposits in the accounts of customers, insisted that those making such allegations were criminal speculators whose intention was to create panic in the foreign exchange market.”

According to him, at no time did the CBN ever suggest or imply that it would tinker with the foreign exchange deposits of customers. He therefore urged operators of domiciliary accounts and other members of the banking public to go about their legitimate foreign exchange transactions and disregard fictitious stories aimed at pitching them against the Bank and triggering chaos in the system.

He further noted that the CBN had put in place monitoring mechanism to guarantee the seamless sale of foreign exchange to customers who supported their requests with relevant documentation.

He said the CBN had also extracted the commitment of the banks, through their Chief Executive Officers, that customers with legitimate requests will not be turned back.