President Tinubu’s media aide justifies reasons why FG clamps down on Binance
Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, has given reasons why the Federal Government of Nigeria clampdown heavily against the activities of the cryptocurrency trading website, Binance.
Appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Wednesday, Onanuga explained that the activities of the firm will destroy the Nigerian economy if left alone to operate at will.
He noted that this can be done by indiscriminately fixing foreign exchange rates thereby hijacking the constitutional duties of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
He said, “We have saboteurs. Look at what Binance is doing to our economy. That is why the government moved against Binance. Some people sit down using the cyberspace to dictate even our exchange rate, hijacking the role of the CBN.
“They just sit down and fix anything they like. It’s a sabotage and we are trying to prevent that from happening henceforth.”
Onanuga further called on Nigerians to halt patronising the parallel market for Forex rates, adding that the website of the apex bank is the only legal platform.
“The parallel market is not the real gauge of Nigeria’s economic health. The parallel market is an illegal market.
“I don’t even know why Nigerians and the media are feeding on the parallel market. That is not where we should go; what’s the CBN rate? As at Friday, the rate for the dollar was about N1600.”
Recall that President Bola Tinubu-led administration recently slammed a ban on the operations of Binance Nigeria Limited.
This was disclosed in a circular by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the Commission).
The Commission stated that Binance Nigeria Limited is neither registered nor regulated and its operations in Nigeria are therefore illegal.
Following the ban, Binance confirmed that it has suspended access to its website and other cryptocurrency platforms for Nigerian users.
The decision follows a heavy clampdown on cryptocurrency platforms by the Nigerian government as part of efforts to stabilise the Nigerian currency against the US dollar.
