Business
CBN’s forex for pilgrims fraudulent, importers say
The decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to introduce discriminating exchange rate for importers and pilgrims has attracted criticism from importers.
It would be recalled that the CBN recently introduced an exchange rate of N197 to a dollar as against N313 for the business community.
According to some importers, the decision of the CBN is a fraud being perpetrated by some persons in government to get funds out of the country.
Speaking on the development, the Vice President of the Association of Tyre Marketers, ANTM, Okechuku Eze-Ifeoma, said though he is not aware of the new directive, if it is true; then there is something fundamentally wrong with those managing the nation’s economy.
Eze-Ifeoma said: “It is fraud, pure fraud. Somebody somewhere is using it to pull out money because if they have this dollar to give out at N190-N197 why are they suffering Nigerians.
Read also: Recession: Banks resort to capital market to shore up base
“In the name of Hajj or pilgrimage they are now giving dollar at N190-N197 and some of us that are businessmen are getting our own at N400, how can you reconcile it?
“If you go back and do your survey very well, the amount that will be pulled out at this rate that you are telling me because I am yet to confirm I am very sure it is pure fraud if it is true.
“Where are they getting the money from, so they have the money and they kept it somewhere? I do not know why they should do a thing like that because it does not make economic sense.”
Speaking in the same vein, the National President of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA, Olayiwola Shitzu, said it does not make sense to have discriminatory forex policy for religious and business purposes in favour of the former.
According to Shittu, the business community should be getting concessionary benefits instead of those embarking on religious trips that would not add anything to the economy.
“My take on this is that the discriminatory allocation should have favoured the importing public because a lot of goods are littered in the port because the people cannot pay”.
By Timothy Enietan-Matthews
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