CBN Director Has Called The #OccupyCBN Group ‘Charlatans and Hirelings’

CBN Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, has labelled the #OccupyCBN group as “charlatans and hirelings, who will fail in their bid to distract the CBN and the Federal Government from their focus on the diversification of the Nigerian economy away from import and crude oil dependence”.

The #OccupyCBN group had earlier released a statement notifying members of the public of a peaceful protest it planned to organize tomorrow, Friday 13th 2017, against several anti-progressive policies and sharp practices of the CBN.

However, in a strong-worded reply, Okarafor described them “as paid agent of some selfish interest groups and enemies of the Nigerian economy” and that “the allegations are totally false and fabricated.” The CBN spokesman pointed out that “some powerful interests want the CBN and government to reverse the policy on conservation of forex and sabotage the ongoing efforts to wean Nigerians from senseless importation”. “It will be economically suicidal for the CBN to allocate our scarce forex to those who will engage in another escapade in senseless importation, which will again discourage our local producers who have borrowed money to engage in agriculture and local manufacturing.” “It will be dangerous to our peasants in the rural areas and indeed to masses of Nigerian workers who are on fixed incomes for the CBN to allow speculators to drive the value of the naira to any level just for the selfish gains of the sponsors of these arrangee protests. “We assure Nigerians that CBN will not succumb to blackmail,”

In his view, what the group was clamoring for was two-fold. First, that the CBN to give out the nation’s scarce foreign exchange to their sponsors to import all manner of foreign goods and dump them on our markets, thereby frustrating the good work our own farmers and manufacturers have begun. Second, Second, they want the CBN to fold its arms and allow currency speculators to drive the naira down to a level at which it will be easy for their paymasters to buy up and take control of the Nigerian economy. They have even gone to the extent of making false allegations that some banks are having trouble just to trigger panic in the financial system.

Summarizing the response to the accusations and threats of the group, Okarafor tersely concluded the statement by saying “We will not succumb to blackmail”