The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has threatened to prosecute any commercial bank or any of its staff involved in money hawking.
The Apex bank has also retrieved over N65 billion from banks following complaints by account users in their various banks.
Acting Director, Corporate Communication Department of the CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, gave the warning in Asaba during a seminar on ‘’Promoting Financial Stability and Economic Development’’ insisting that CBN would prosecute and dismiss any of its staff caught in such act.
“Well the Central Bank of Nigeria is very committed to making sure people do not hawk the Naira. Hawking the Naira on the street is a criminal offence and it is punishable under the CBN Act of 2007” he said.
“We are regulators. We are not the law enforcement agency. It is the duty of the Nigeria Police to enforce the law. We have collaborated with them at different times and people have been caught and money confiscated. We are waiting on police to prosecute those people,” he declared.
The acting director pleaded with the law enforcement agencies to assist the CBN achieve its goal to stop money hawking, adding that the amount accumulated was as a result of wrong treatment of customers in terms of charges and deductions.
“We have recovered from the banks, then refunded the money to the customers over N65 billion since 2012/2013 when we started,” he stated.
