By Babajide Komolafe

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and banks will introduce mobile courts to prosecute currency hawkers and others found abusing the naira.

This was one of the highlights of the Bankers Committee meeting, yesterday, in Lagos.

The committee also agreed to consider in the future extension of foreign exchange restriction to other sectors of the economy where it believes the nation has achieved self sufficiency in terms of local production.

The above were disclosed at a press briefing addressed by Managing Director/Chief Executive of FSDH Merchant Bank,Hamda Amba; Managing Director/Chief Executive of Access Bank, Mr, Herbert Wigwe; Managing Director/Chief Executive of Union Bank, Mr. Emeka Emuwa; Director Banking Supervision, CBN, Mr. Ahmad Abdullahi, and Acting Director Corporate Communication Department, CBN, Mr. Isaac Okoroafor.

The Central Bank of Nigeria head office in Abuja.

Mobile court for currency abuse

Speaking on the decision to introduce mobile court to prosecute currency hawkers, Managing Director/Chief Executive of FSDH Merchant Bank,Hamda Amba, said: “We agreed that we would draw attention of the public to their specific responsibilities regarding the handling of the naira.

“We are going to be disseminating information about the correct way to handle the naira so that people doesn’t handle the currency incorrectly.

“Specifically, one of the things that was severely frowned on and action is to be taken has to do with people who actually sell the currency, which we all know as people who sell mint notes.”

Acting Director Corporate Communication Department, CBN, Mr. Isaac Okoroafor, said the mobile court would not only prosecute currency hawkers but anybody found engaged in any form of abuse of the naira.

He said: “We realise that it cost a lot to print the naira notes. We also realise that the CBN Act 2007 outlaws any action by anybody either by spraying or squeezing or by dancing upon it or by hawking it. That Act makes it an offence punishable by six months imprisonment or a fine of N50,000 or both the fine and prison.”

Forex Restrictions

Speaking on the likely extension of foreign exchange restriction to other sectors of the economy in the future, Managing Director/Chief Executive of Access Bank, Mr, Herbert Wigwe said: “What the Bankers Committee was saying was that can we devote enough (forex) resources to different items such that over time, that is, in not too distant future, we can then tell ourselves, at that particular time, there will be no need to allocate (forex) resources anymore because those items would have already been produced in Nigeria;  from an agricultural stand point, the raw materials would have been produced in Nigeria because that is the only way in the long term that you can’t create a robust economy that is not subject to the varies of the oil price”