Report Banks Hoarding Forex, CBN Tells Nigerians

In view of the lingering foreign exchange scarcity in the country, the Central Bank of Nigeria has urged Nigerians not to panic, saying there is enough forex for business owners, travellers and parents with students abroad to meet their obligations.

CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, stated this on Tuesday at the 278th MPC Press Briefing in Abuja.

He also said at least $80m are disbursed to banks on a weekly basis to enable Nigerians meet their forex responsibilities.

He, therefore, charged Nigerians to report any bank withholding forex to a special call centre of the apex bank.

Our correspondent  had reported that the lingering foreign exchange scarcity in Nigeria was taking a heavy toll on foreign tuition payment, as many parents and guardians groan over difficulty in paying their children’s school fees.

Business owners including airlines have also lamented the scarcity of forex especially in the purchase of their spares.

But speaking on Tuesday, Emefiele said, “Part of the measures that we have adopted is that on a weekly basis, the CBN disburses not less than $80m to the banks either for Personal Travel Allowances or payment of school fees.

“We have created a complaint desk where you can call us or call some of our people who will respond. It is like call centres, where people can call that they went to a particular bank and they didn’t get money to pay school fees or they didn’t get money to travel.”

“There is no need for anybody to panic,” the CBN governor stated, adding that positive indices including exit from recession, diasporan remittances and stable crude oil prices, will buoy forex availability.

He added, “We are very optimistic that there is enough foreign exchange and there will continue to be enough foreign exchange for people to meet their obligations. We just need people to be patient.

“There is no need for everybody to rush to the bank at the same time creating panic and giving speculators an opportunity to reap us off.”