The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele says the apex bank has identified smuggling and dumping as major challenges working against the Federal Government’s economic policies.

Emefiele, who stated this on the sideline of a consultative round-table titled “Going for Growth” with some economic stakeholders in Lagos on Saturday said they have also identified those behind the acts of sabotage.

The round-table meeting which was organized to encourage participants to highlight important building blocks that could lead to greater economic growth in the country saw the CBN Governor listening to ideas and views on how productivity and investments by companies operating in Nigeria can be improved.

“We have identified smugglers and people dumping goods as those who sabotage those policies and we decided that we will deal with them. The strategy that we came up with is that we will not bother ourselves with them.

“There is an agency of government that is responsible for border control and if these people pass through the border control we would use the instrumentality of being the regulator of the banking system to make sure that we get the banks to provide all details about them.

“We investigate their accounts and if they are found in economic sabotage, hoarding, smuggling and dumping in Nigeria, we would not only block their accounts, we would close their accounts in all the Nigerian banks simultaneously,” Emefiele said.

He also revealed that the CBN has ordered commercial banks in the country to close the accounts of such companies and those of the top members of such entities.

Emefiele added that the CBN will in due course come up with the names of those that had been identified.

“We want to be sure that we come up with something that is credible and cannot be denied. At this stage we have already blocked the accounts of some in the textile and rice and palm oil company.

“We are investigating those accounts and as information becomes clearer, we can clearly say that they committed the offence.

“We would then go to the next level which is to forbid any Nigerian bank from maintaining accounts for these people,” he added.