The Central Bank of Nigeria has directed banks to block 18 companies from making withdrawals from their accounts.

The directive was contained in a circular, signed by the Director of banking supervision of the bank, Haruna Mustapha, newsmen reported Friday.

“You are hereby directed to place all accounts of the under-listed customers on Post-No-Debit (PND) restriction,” the circular reads.

The affected companies include Bakori Mega Services, Ashambrakh General Enterprise, Namuduka Ventures Limited, Crosslinks Capital and Investment Limited, IGP Global Synergy Limited, Davedan Mille Investment Limited and Urban Laundry.

Others are Advanced Multi-Links Services Limited, Spray Resources, Al-Ishaq Global Resources Limited, Himark Intertrades, Charblecom Concept Limited, Wudatage Global Resources.

Also included are Treynor Soft Ventures, Fyrstrym Global Concepts Limited, Samarize Global Nigeria Limited, and Zahraddeen Haruna Shahru.

It is not clear why the CBN took the decision. A spokesperson did not respond to phone calls and a message Saturday.

The apex bank had on April 7 frozen 11 bank accounts of five companies and an individual for 45 days to enable it to conduct investigations into suspicious activities.

Also, on April 10, it froze 194 bank accounts owned by Bureaux De Change firms and other organisations to conduct investigations into suspicious activities.

Advanced Multi-Links Services Limited registered as a general contract and merchandise in July 2017.

Urban Laundry, a laundry and cleaning services, was registered in December 2018.

TodayNG