Traffic in Lagos was hellish this weekend. Individuals invested 6 hours on trips that take one hour in regular times. My theory is that IJGBs-- our dear cousins and aunties returning briefly to Nigeria for the holidays-- are overburdening our small roads by throwing their weights about town.
My theory is extremely baseless though and, truthfully, we should not be picking battles with IJGBs knowing the crucial function 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 sign up for this newsletter if you are yet to. And discover all previous editions here.WHAT'S HAPPENING Make it rain, however in dollarsThree weeks ago, the Reserve bank of Nigeria (CBN) published a two-page circular with sites for changing naira to dollars an unexpected update.Basically, when someone abroad sends 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 household accounts. Each beneficiary chooses what she prefers.The notice was straight for CBN-licensed worldwide money transfer operators-- Flutterwave, Moneygram, RIA, Western Union, and so on. They 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 current statements have appeared hurried and high-handed-- for instance, controversial penalties for stopped working direct debits-- lots of people were uncertain what to make from this. On December 16, CBN published a directive leaving out mobile cash operators from the remittance process. MoMo operators are to disable their wallets from getting remittances from IMTOs.
The very same file bars payment processors and payment service providers from integrating with IMTOs as far remittance is concerned.The glue binding these 2 remains in the upgrade released on December 2. IMTOs are to make sure they pass the dollars meant to be remitted to recipients through industrial banks. These banks have also been ordered to close all IMTOs naira accounts.
n other words, the CBN is attempting to produce a linear remittance architecture that looks something like this: