The Central Bank of Nigeria has assured members of the banking public that it will monitor the commercial banks to ensure they meet the legitimate foreign exchange demands of customers.

The assurance follows Monday’s commencement of its directive to Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to sell foreign exchange to customers, for invisibles such as basic travel allowance, PTA, medical and tuition.

The CBN also dismissed speculations that it planned to convert the foreign exchange in domiciliary accounts of customers into naira.

Speaking with business correspondents in Abuja on Monday,
The Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Osita Nwanisobi, disclosed this while speaking with journalists in Abuja. He said 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.

Nwanisobi 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.

Meanwhile, the director dismissed insinuations that the CBN is working to convert the foreign exchange in the domiciliary accounts of customers into Naira in order to check purported shortage of availability of the United States dollars.

Nwanisobi, while disclosing 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.

He further 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.