The federal government yesterday said those engaged in foreign exchange manipulation which led to the sudden depreciation of naira are committing economic terrorism against the land.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) said that the FG has ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to conduct a full scale investigation in a bid to bring all defaulters to book.
He said that other measures are already in place to deal with infractions decisively, adding that relevant security agencies are on red alert to investigate these infractions and appropriate sanctions shall follow accordingly.
Since the suspension of the weekly auction by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the Bureau de Change operators in January, the value of naira depreciated by about 40 per cent in the parallel market.
Since then, the situation translated to serious inflation where the prices of goods and services in the country went up sharply. Malami mentioned that there is an urgent need to review the foreign exchange market from the perspective of the degree of compliance with extant laws and regulations.
He further said that the current state of naira is not the result of neutral economic factors, or directly related to demand and supply forces alone, but rather by a carefully orchestrated criminal conspiracies and manipulation by unscrupulous elements hiding under the cloak of so-called ‘market forces’.
According to him, “ as a responsible government, we cannot afford to allow such a situation anchored on unlawful alliances and criminal enterprise to continue unchecked, when it is apparent that its primary objective is to sabotage the economic agenda of the present administration.
“Government will continue to adopt a broad-based approach to the resolution of this issue.
“Government is aware of the insidious activities of certain elements within some strategic national institutions, who, rather than exert their regulatory powers, have chosen to use their strong accomplice within the system to manipulate the foreign exchange market for personal corrupt gains and to the detriment of the national economy.
“Let me restate in the strongest terms that these nefarious malpractice by unscrupulous individuals and institutions will no longer be tolerated. In this regards, measures are already in place to deal with infractions decisively and relevant security agencies are on the red alert to investigate these infractions and appropriate sanctions shall follow accordingly.’’
He further emphasized the government’s intention to diversify the economy through the blocking of all revenue loopholes, undertake a robust recovery process in Nigeria and overseas and prosecute all treasury looters ‎in accordance with the law.
Read more at http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/business/fg-declares-forex-manipulation-as-economic-terrorism/137313.html#DiPuwTpmcPxqEIuA.99

Book, book, book all the time

Did you even know that forex was manipulated before till Ifeanyi Ubah told us?

Hmmmmm