*File photograph of Director of Communications, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Isaac Okorafor
According to Isaac Okorafor, the Director, Corporate Communications Department of the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN), the bank would not be deterred in its effort to steer the Nigerian economy away from the looming recession due to the impact of the dreaded Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which has destabilised the global economy and claimed the lives of many people including Nigerians.
Okorafor who gave the reassurance in a statement said the CBN had uncovered some sinister plans by some persons in Nigeria’s economic and socio-political space to distract the bank but stated that the CBN under its present Governor, Godwin Emefiele would not distracted by the antics.
He said plan of such persons was to discredit the institution through deliberate misinformation, complete fabrications and outright lies the hawk around. He, however, noted that the CBN Governor, and his team at the bank would not be deterred by the actions of such persons.
Okoroafor said the bank, in pursuit of its mandate enshrined in the CBN Act 2007, as Amended, would continue to strive to ensure accretion to the external reserves to safeguard the international value of the naira, adding that it would continue to ensure that no individual or institution circumvents the system.
He said the naira, in the past three years, had remained stable against other world currencies, due to strict measures put in place by the CBN to check cases of round-tripping. The CBN, he further explained, working with other relevant agencies of government, had equally curtailed the activities of economic saboteurs neck-deep in smuggling and other economic crimes.
He argued that those opposed to the policies of the CBN would not relent in their effort to undermine the bank. He however stressed that the bank remains resolute to the dictates of its enabling Act, meaning that the bank would not be distracted by subjective criticisms from persons who do not mean well for the general good of the Nigerian people and the economy.
