Thursday 25 February 2016

CBN: PUBLIC NOTICE (DISCLAIMER)

CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA
The Central Bank of Nigeria in August, 2014 launched the CBN N220 Billion Micro Small & Medium Enterprise Development Fund (MSMEDF) to provide fund to eligible enterprise through Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) such as Deposit Money Banks, Microfinance Banks, NGO-MFIs and Financial Cooperatives. The objective of the Fund is to channel low interest funds to the MSME sub-sector of the Nigerian economy through PFIs.

It has however come to the attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria that some unscrupulous persons/organizations are parading themselves as PFI’s under the MSMEDF and defrauding unsuspecting members of the public by extorting money under the pretense of assisting them to access the CBN N220 Billion Micro Small & Medium Enterprise Development Fund (MSMEDF)

Reports reaching the Bank indicate that these unscrupulous elements extort money ranging from N1,500 to N50,000 from their unsuspecting victims by asking them to pay the said sums for membership fees and procurement of all manner of forms as pre-condition and/or guarantee for securing loans from the Fund.

The Central Bank of Nigeria wishes to inform the general public that at no time did it authorize or appoint any agent to sell forms or collect any fee to access the MSMEDF or indeed any of its intervention Funds. For the avoidance of doubt, the CBN has not appointed anyone to act as an agent to facilitate access to the MSMEDF.

The public is therefore advised to beware of the activities of fraudsters and report anyone/organization that approaches them to pay on the pretence that they would assist them access the MSMEDF or any of the Bank’s intervention funds to the law enforcement agencies.

The Public is also advised to contact the Director, Development Finance Department, CBN, on 0946238600 or any Development Finance Office in the CBN Branches nearest to them for information regarding any of the Bank’s intervention funds.

Signed
Ibrahim Mu’azu
Director, Corporate Communication Department
February, 2016


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