SOME Nigerians have started protesting against their inability to receive Diaspora remittances in foreign currencies, especially the United States (US) Dollar.
This is as a result of a recent Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directive stopping international money transfer operators (IMTOs) from paying Nigerians in US Dollars.
At such payout counters in some banks recently a few customers protested the development, saying CBN should not tell them how to receive or spend their monies.
“Why are they increasing hardship and suffering in the country? Is it their money? Is that how to solve the problem of naira devaluation they cased by themselves. What a country,” said a customer that identified himself simply as Olu.
Suleiman simply said: “Kai, they want to finish the people. They know this is not the real solution,” while Emeka added: “Now we are at the mercy of the banks. Oh, Nigeria.”
With the CBN directive, Nigerians who before now received remittances from abroad in dollars can no longer be able to, as the IMTOs have already started implementing the new requirements for international money transfer operations .
The IMTOs have updated features on their apps for Nigerians resident abroad who wish to remit foreign currency back home, as they are now only allowed to transfer the equivalent USD amount in Naira.
The IMTOs including WorldRemit, Sendwave, etc, have started notifying customers about the implementation, with a WorldRemit’s notice to customers stating: “We can no longer support transfers in USD; only in Naira. If you’re about to send money to Nigeria, this is important.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed that it’s no longer possible for any money transfers to be paid out in USD in Nigeria.”
A similar notice by Sendwave read: “In compliance with a recent directive from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), we regret to inform you that Sendwave, along with all money transfer operators, is no longer able to support USD transfers to Nigeria. We’d encourage you to switch to sending Naira transfers instead.”
The development is in compliance with CBN’s recent revised guidelines on international money transfer operations, where it instructed banks to begin paying dollars and other foreign currency payouts from abroad in naira to boost forex supply.
“All inbound money transfers to Nigeria shall be paid to beneficiaries in naira through a bank account or cash,” it stated.
