Central Bank of Nigeria, the country’s highest financial institution has introduced a new scheme called the Naira4Dollar Scheme to improve on its remittances from the diaspora.
In a circular signed by Saleh Jibrin, the bank’s Assistant Director on behalf of the Director for Trade and Exchange Department, the bank said N5 will be given to International Money Transfer Operators for every dollar remitted by the CBN.
The N5 incentive will be paid to the recipients regardless of their point of collection of money. This payment will be done through commercial banks, according to the circular released by the bank on Saturday.
Nigeria has one of the highest diaspora remittances of any African country with at least N20bn received in 2020, according to the World Bank.
The CBN had in a circular in November 2020 informed IMTOs and recipients of new rules to aid and improve diaspora remittances. CBN said at the time that “beneficiaries of diaspora remittances through International Money Transfer Operators (“IMTOs”) shall receive such inflows in foreign currency (US Dollars) through designated banks of their choice.
It further said the beneficiaries/recipients will have the option of receiving the funds in foreign currency cash or by direct transfer/credit in their ordinary domiciliary accounts. The beneficiaries will also have unfettered access and utilisation to such foreign currency proceeds, either in cash and/or in their domiciliary account.
In addition to the CBN’s previous efforts, the new scheme is expected to encourage more remittances from the diaspora and will benefit the recipient.