Traffic in Lagos was hellish this weekend. Individuals invested six hours on journeys that take one hour in regular times. My theory is that IJGBs-- our dear cousins and aunts returning briefly to Nigeria for the vacations-- are overburdening our small roads by tossing their weights about town.
My theory is extremely baseless though and, truthfully, we shouldn't be picking battles with IJGBs knowing the important role they play in our economy. Remittances from Nigerians in diaspora kept families and organizations liquid throughout the pandemic, and will be more indispensa How do we get our faves to remit more please?In this edition, we highlight the Central Bank of Nigeria's current proceed diaspora remittances as a march towards harmonizing/tracking the inflow of dollars into the financial system.
ut initially, please subscribe to this newsletter if you are yet to. And discover all previous editions here.WHAT'S HAPPENING Make it rain, but in dollarsThree weeks ago, the Reserve bank of Nigeria (CBN) published a two-page circular with an unexpected update.Basically, when someone abroad sends out dollars to a recipient in Nigeria, the money will no longer be gotten in naira. Beneficiaries are now to get the remittance in dollars either in cash over the counter or in their domestic accounts. Each beneficiary chooses what she prefers.The notice was straight for CBN-licensed worldwide cash transfer operators-- Flutterwave, Moneygram, RIA, Western Union, and so on. They exchange rate of naira to other currencies are to ensure this brand-new policy takes effect. Global money transfer operators (IMTO) that keep paying recipients in naira instead of dollars invite the rage of the peak bank and may lose their license to run.'s recent statements have appeared hurried and high-handed-- for example, questionable punishments for stopped working direct debits-- lots of people doubted what to make of this. On December 16, CBN released a regulation excluding mobile cash operators from the remittance process. MoMo operators are to disable their wallets from getting remittances from IMTOs.
The same file bars payment processors and payment service providers from incorporating with IMTOs as far remittance is concerned.The glue binding these two remains in the update released on December 2. IMTOs are to make sure they pass the dollars indicated to be remitted to beneficiaries through business banks. These banks have likewise been ordered to close all IMTOs naira accounts.
n other words, the CBN is attempting to create a direct remittance architecture that looks something like this: