CBN records $2.4bn from ‘Naira 4 Dollar Scheme’ in eight months

The Director, Trade and Exchange department of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Ozoemena Nnaji, said the ‘Naira 4 Dollar Scheme’ created by the financial regulator has received over $2.4 billion in diaspora remittances this year.

Nnaji said the Naira 4 Dollar Scheme recorded more remittance inflows in eight months of 2022, compared to the $2.9 billion recorded in ten months last year, when the initiative began.

Naira 4 Dollar Scheme was created in March 2021 to divert the inflow of foreign exchange from the black market to the official exchange market, in a bid to increase the forex and end scarcity of foreign exchange. The initiative offers persons or companies that channel foreign payments through the official channel N5 for every $1.

Nigerian government, through the CBN, had to intervene in protest by foreign airlines who threaten to end operation in Nigeria due to inability to access foreign exchange, after over $464 million was trapped in the country.

According to multiple media reports on Monday, Nnaji, during a dinner with Finance Correspondents, said, “We have seen an increase in the Naira 4 Dollar in terms of remittances. For example, in 2021, we were able to record $2.9 billion of cash inflows, so far this year, we have recorded $2.4 billion. So, in half of the year, we have gotten almost what we got in the year 2021.

Read also:CBN to reward Nigerians for using eNaira

“We have a component of remittances which include workers’ compensation, anyone that worked in Nigeria, even if you are a Nigerian but are paid in dollars because you work for an embassy or an international organisation, it is counted as a remittance.

“So, there are so many components of remittances. But the component of inflows that came into this country so far, we are at $2.4 billion.”

The director also disclosed that the CBN met with representatives of the Pakistan authourities to better understand how such initiative could work in Nigeria’s favour, even though Nigeria doesn’t have the capability to implement it fully without the support of the foreign ministry.

“We have even had meetings with Pakistan, and we observed what they are doing is far broader than what is being implemented here in Nigeria.” Nnaji said.

She further stated that, “We are taking baby steps because we know we do not have the resources and the weight because it involves both the ministry of foreign affairs and the ministry of finance.

“We are talking to some agencies to see how this can be replicated here in Nigeria, but that conversation has not gotten to a point of implementation.”

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