The Central Bank of Nigeria will soon launch an offensive against some Nigerian-based business organisations that insist on foreign currencies for their services.
In an apparent reaction to the complaints over some service providers who charge foreign currencies for their transactions, the CBN Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo, said in Lagos on Thursday that the act was illegal.
He warned that any errant organisation would be prosecuted.
Soludo, who insisted that the naira remained the only legal tender in Nigeria, said whoever demanded for foreign currencies for local transactions was flouting the law.
He said the organisations which indulged in the pracgtice had no reason to continue because the Nigerian currency had stabilised.
On the ongoing foreign exchange market reform, Soludo said that the CBN had made a lot of progress.
The CBN chief insisted that efforts to develop Nigeria�s financial sector were yielding results.
Soludo said, �All indicators showed that the objectives of the financial sector reforms to deepen profitability are being achieved.
�The difference between the situation in the past and now is like the difference between night and day, considering where we are coming from.�
He said that the December 2006 presidential forum would show the true state of the Nigerian economy.
Soludo put the nation�s foreign reserves at $41.2bn.
The rising external reserves, according to him, is building confidence in the economy.