ECONOMY: Use the Dollars, Go to Jail-CBN

The CBN has raised concern over the dominance use of dollar over the Naira amongst Nigerians which has largely affected the Economy. The CBN has issued a statement which indicates that if you are caugt using the dollar to transact business in Nigeria you will be jailed. Below is the statement in Part....

"It has also been observed that some institutions price their goods and services in foreign currencies and demand payment in foreign currencies rather than the domestic currency (the naira), which is the legal tender in Nigeria.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the attention of the general public is hereby drawn to the provision of the CBN Act of 2007, which states inter-alia that ‘the currency notes issued by the bank shall be legal tender in Nigeria…for the payment of any amount.’”

It added, “Furthermore, the Act stipulates that any person(s) who contravenes this provision is guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a prescribed fine or six months imprisonment.

“This prohibition, however, is without prejudice to foreigners, visitors and tourists who are encouraged to continue to use their cards for payments or exchange their foreign currencies for the local currency at any of the authorised dealers’ outposts.
“The general public is hereby advised to report any contravention of the provision of this Act to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the CBN for appropriate action.”

According to reports, the naira is falling because politicians are buying dollars massively on the street market to fund the campaigns ahead of the governorship and states’ Houses of Assembly elections on Saturday,” one of the dealers said.

 

The question is,  what do politicians need dollar for during the elections?