Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said it will name, shame commercial banks engaged in illegal sales of Dollars.
Folashodun Shonubi, acting governor, CBN stated this a lecture titled ‘Diaspora Remittances and Nigeria Economic Development’ held at the National Institute of Security Studies (NISS) in Abuja.
Shonubi also said that a panel would be set up to conduct surprise visits to banks suspected of illegally selling dollars.
“We need to name and shame commercial banks involved in such malpractices,” he said.
The acting governor further highlighted the challenges with the current remittance system, where the cost of sending money to sub-Saharan Africa from the diaspora stands at around 8-9% per $100, the highest in the world.
Interestingly, he explained, Nigeria received approximately $16.7 billion in remittances, but the bulk of this money remains outside the formal market.
“We are striving to encourage individuals to bring money into the formal sector instead of relying on informal channels, as it has become challenging to manage,” Shonubi added.
Despite efforts to incentivize individuals to engage in formal market transactions by offering a rebate of N5, this approach has proven ineffective in the open market setup, leading to the discontinuation of the N5 rebate.
However, Shonubi acknowledged the importance of incentives to attract individuals to the formal market.
Additionally, Shonubi announced a change in terminology, stating, “We will rename the foreign exchange market, known as the I & E market, to the Nigerian Foreign Exchange market, as it is the sole market we acknowledge.”
