April 08, (THEWILL) – The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has warned Nigerians against investing in Illegal Financial Operators (IFOs).
IFOs are entities not regulated by the apex bank.
The bank’s Director, Corporate Communications Department, Osita Nwanisobi, who issued the warning at the CBN Fair Team Lead Programme held Thursday in Ondo, pointed out that IFOs use unrealistic returns on investments to lure unsuspecting members of the public.
Nwanisobi said, “As a Nigerian, you have a role to play in stopping some of these Ponzi scheme institutions that we see around.
“You must be conscious of any institution that begins to ask you to bring your money with an extremely very high interest rate. CBN licencing institutions are recognised and regulated. So, it is your responsibility to ensure that wherever you are putting your money, or whoever you are doing any financial business with is recognised by the CBN.”
He said the two-day event tagged: “CBN Fair: Promoting Financial Stability and Economic Development” was organised by the Corporate communications department of the apex bank to enlighten Nigerians on the bank’s policies and interventions,
“The CBN fair programme is meant for everybody in Ondo State, but we also know that everybody would not be here at the same time and that is why we are speaking to their representative. We have different commodity associations, corps members, students of higher institutions, civil servants, artisans and virtually, people from all walks of life here.
“So, when they get this information, they take it back to their members and you also heard the representative of the government, that means that the government is also aware of what we are doing here today. So, it is essential for everybody who is a citizen of this country”, he said.
Nwanisobi said the training is meant to communicate to the people about the CBN policies, interventions, initiatives and programmes and how the citizens can leverage these programmes.
