CBN Director's Name Involved In COVID-19 Loan Fraud

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed that the name of its Director, Development Finance Department, Mr Philip Yusuf, is being used for fraudulent activities that relate with COVID-19 loans being disbursed by the apex bank to households and small businesses.

It was revealed that the imposter created a Twitter handle in the name of the CBN director, @YusufPhilipYila, to lure unsuspecting loan seekers and small business owners in need of loans to aid their businesses during this COVID-19 period. The handle had been posting information in respect of the COVID-19 loan.

The CBN said the Twitter handle is fake and shouldn't be interacted with by individuals and small businesses seeking loans in order not to fall victim to the fraudster. AllNews had reported that the CBN set up the COVID-19 credit facility to assist small businesses and households struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown measures that stopped businesses from operating.

Aside from essential services, other businesses were shut down for over two months, resulting in revenue losses for small and larger corporations within the country. This affected the businesses' liquidity, and in order to help businesses get back on their feet, the CBN launched the COVID-19 credit facility. Already, over N49 billion has been disbursed to over 80,000 families and households.

While commenting on the imposter's work, CBN’s Director of Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, said, “Although the CBN, through the NIRSAL Microfinance Bank, has indeed disbursed loans to successful beneficiaries under its COVID-19 Targeted Credit Facility, none of the bank’s official engages in direct interactions with prospective or successful applicants,” he said in a Punch report.

CBN Governor Accused Of Breaching President Buhari's Order

CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele was recently accused of violating President Muhammadu Buhari's flight ban after secretly flying out his wife and children out of Nigeria on a trip cost N3.8 million per hour. It had been reported that Emefiele's wife, Margaret Emefiele and his sons – Godwin Pammichukwu Jnr. and Andrew Olisehike Emefiele, all travelled from Nigeria on Monday, June 1, 2020 at about 8pm (Nigerian time) and arrived in the UK at 2:37am, despite flight ban which allows only essential flight out and into Nigeria.

His family had left Nigeria on Executive Jets' Global Express Bombardier 550 luxury jet with registration number N104DA. AllNews learnt that to book the Executive Jet per hour, it costs at least $10,000, that's about N3.8 million - and flight from Nigeria to the UK is over 6 hours. While reacting to the accusation, Okorafor, said it's a plot from persons with sinister agenda. He said the plan was to discredit the CBN and its top officials through deliberate misinformation and lies.