Why CBN must return dollars defrauded from Nigerians in Diaspora
When Dr Anthony Ani, a finance analyst raised this alarm on the brazen faulty Diaspora remittances conversion tactics of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in collusion with commercial banks, nobody took him serious.
However, only last week, Federal House of Representatives rose with one voice and condemned the apparent fraud perpetrated in the CBN’s currency conversion policy meted out of thousands of Nigerians suffering and working hard to send money home from many parts of the world.
At the investigative hearing, both the House of Representatives and the Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), criticised the apex bank policy that allows conversion of currencies remitted from the Nigerians in the Diaspora into naira.
The House and NIDCOM stated that Nigeria was losing value of the remittances running into billions of dollars. The Secretary of NIDCOM, Mr Sule Bassi, expressed the concern during an investigative hearing on Diaspora remittances from January 2016 to December 2019 organised by the House Committee on Diaspora.
Bassi alleged that Nigerians in the Diaspora lose between 18 to 20 per cent of the actual value of foreign currencies remitted to the country. He also announced NIDCOM’s plan to establish a Diaspora Investment Trust Fund and the management of labour migration partnership with other countries.
According to him, NIDCOM is already working with relevant government agencies on various projects and programmes.
