Traffic in Lagos was hellish this weekend. People invested six hours on journeys that take one hour in typical times. My theory is that IJGBs-- our dear cousins and aunts returning briefly to Nigeria for the vacations-- are overburdening our small roads by throwing their weights about town.
My theory is extremely baseless though and, honestly, we should not be choosing fights with IJGBs understanding the important role they play in our economy. Remittances from Nigerians in diaspora kept households and companies liquid during the pandemic, and will be more indispensa How do we get our favorites to remit more please?In this edition, we spotlight the Reserve bank of Nigeria's recent moves on diaspora remittances as a march towards harmonizing/tracking the inflow of dollars into the monetary system.
ut first, please register for this newsletter if you are yet to. And find all previous editions here.WHAT'S HAPPENING Make it rain, but in dollarsThree weeks back, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) released a two-page circular with a surprising update.Basically, when somebody abroad sends dollars to a beneficiary in Nigeria, the cash will no longer be received in naira. Recipients are now to receive the remittance in dollars either in money nonprescription or in their domiciliary accounts. Each recipient decides what she prefers.The notification was directly for CBN-licensed global money transfer operators-- Flutterwave, Moneygram, RIA, Western Union, etc. They are to guarantee this new policy works. International cash transfer operators (IMTO) that keep paying beneficiaries in naira instead of dollars welcome the wrath of the pinnacle bank and may lose their license to operate.'s current announcements have actually appeared rushed and high-handed-- for instance, controversial penalties for failed direct debits-- many individuals were uncertain what to make from this. On December 16, CBN published an instruction omitting mobile cash operators from the remittance procedure. MoMo operators are to disable their wallets from receiving remittances from IMTOs.
The exact same document bars payment processors and payment provider from integrating with IMTOs as far remittance is concerned.The glue binding these 2 is in the upgrade published on December 2. IMTOs are to ensure they pass the dollars meant to be remitted to recipients through commercial banks. These banks have currency converter dollar to naira actually also been bought to close all IMTOs naira accounts.
n other words, the CBN is trying to develop a linear remittance architecture that looks something like this: