It is becoming abundantly necessary, pertinent, and important for the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), to be more explicit and clear the air on the distorted information and counter opinion raised by concerned bodies regarding its claim to have cleared $7billion forex backlogs.
Just five days ago, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), announced that it has successfully cleared all valid foreign exchange backlogs, effectively eliminating a legacy burden.
This accomplishment fulfills a commitment made by Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, who vowed to address an inherited backlog of $7bn in claims.
The announcement was made by the bank’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Mrs Sidi Ali, in a statement made available to journalists at the CBN monthly report.
However, in a twist of event, the duo of the Foreign Airline Operator, and the Organized Private Sector of Nigeria challenged the federal government to provide evidence of payment for the said foreign exchange clearance.
The Foreign operators in Nigeria have challenged the announcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria that it has cleared all valid foreign exchange backlogs.
According to Kingsley Nwokeoma, the president of the Association of Foreign Airlines and Representatives in Nigeria (AFARN), the operators challenged the federal government to provide evidence of payment.
In his words; “If they’ve paid, they should let us know how much has been paid. Where is the evidence of payment? They should show us evidence of payments and we will thank them because payment is what we want. The backlog of trapped funds made foreign airlines stop releasing low inventory tickets,” Nwokeoma said in a chat with one of the Nigeria Newspaper.
Nwokeoma added that although foreign airlines have been told to get their funds from the banks using the rate of the I & E window, they refused because the current I & E window rate differed from what they used in selling tickets.
Meanwhile, some businesses under the aegis of the Organised Private Sector of Nigeria are also considering taking legal action against some commercial banks for not honoring forex requests that have lingered over an extended period.
The OPSN also called for a comprehensive audit of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s forex backlog payments. This follows a recent claim by the apex bank that all valid forex backlogs have been cleared.
Accordingly, members of the OPS insisted that the claim by the apex bank that it had settled all forex backlogs was not entirely true. Some of the member associations, speaking in separate interviews, faulted the process through which the CBN conducted the settlement of the backlogs. They argued that the process was not transparent, nor was it carried out in the interest of full disclosure.
The threat of litigation comes despite a recent stakeholder meeting comprising NACCIMA, MAN, the affected banks, and customers which was convened by the Minister of Industry Trade and Investment at the Bank of Industry in Lagos on March 21, 202
Recall that the Central Bank of Nigeria derived its mandate from the 1958 Act of Parliament, as amended in 1991, 1993,1997,1998,1999 and 2007.
Its mandate also includes but is not limited to ensuring monetary and price stability, issuing legal tender currency in Nigeria, and maintaining external reserves to safeguard the international value of the legal tender currency.
Others are; promoting a sound financial system in Nigeria; acting as a Banker and providing economic and financial advice to the Federal Government among others.
The apex bank in recent times has made some bold moves that tumbled across both the official and unofficial markets amidst an increased forex demand and a significant spike in the prices of goods and services across the country.
A close and keen observation revealed that the local frequency traded at N1500, and N1,665.50/$1 respectively.
Similarly, amidst speculations and uncertainties about supply constraints in the forex markets, the naira extended its depreciation run at the parallel creating apprehension across the different sectors of the economy. At the segment, the currency traded at a record low of N1,700 and above the mark amid increased demand and market uncertainties.
However, this disturbing trend prompted the Nigerian government to undertake some major measures and reforms in an effort to safeguard the country’s foreign exchange market and combat speculative activities.
The multidimensional steps and subsequent moves of the Central Bank began to show appreciable results, just last week Thursday, the naira maintained a steady appreciation against the United States dollar on Thursday, gaining N18 to close at 1,382/$ at the official market.
This was as the presidency warned currency speculators to desist from unpatriotic acts against the national currency, saying racketeers would have their fingers burnt.
The naira gain came a day after the local currency recorded major gains at both the official and parallel foreign exchange markets. It closed at the black market at N1,400/dollar.
The summary of the FX trading auction revealed that the naira appreciated by 1.3 percent following increased dollar supply at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market, according to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited.
However, when our correspondent reached out to Sidi-Ali Hakama, the acting director, corporate communications, of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for clarification, she did not pick her calls.
