According to the Department of State Services (DSS), there was no invasion of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to detain Governor Godwin Emefiele.
In a brief statement released on Monday, its spokesman, Dr. Peter Afunanya, stated: “The Department of State Services (DSS) has been alerted to the false rumors circulating that its agents raided the Central Bank of Nigeria and detained its Governor today, 16/1/23. This is false information that is quite deceptive.
Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, has since returned to work following his yearly holiday.
Emefiele, who had taken a leave of absence in December 2022, started working again today, January 16.
The Governor resumed with renewed vigour to perform his duty ahead of the first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of the year scheduled for January 23 to 24, 2023.
A statement signed by Osita Nwanisobi Director, Corporate Communications, said Emefiele remains committed to performing the task before him in line with his oath of office and the policy direction of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“While thanking the public for keeping faith with the bank, we urge Nigerians to continue to support the policies of the bank aimed at ensuring a stable financial system and the Nigerian economy in general”, Nwanisobi said.
At the last meeting in November 2022, the MPC voted to increase the benchmark interest rate by 100 basis points to 16.5per cent, the highest since 2001.
The MPC said the tightening would curb a higher rate of inflation and restore investors’ confidence.
Highlights of the MPC meeting included: increase MPR by 100 basis points to 16.5per cent; the asymmetric corridor of +100/-700 basis points around the MPR was retained; the CRR was retained at 32.5per cent; while the Liquidity Ratio was also kept at 30per cent.
The apex bank had increased the MPR from 11.5 per cent earlier this year to 15.5 per cent across three consecutive rate hikes.
Experts are not united about the possible outcome of the meeting there are calls for the bank to continue tightening by a section while others are looking for commencement of easing going forward
