The Central Bank of Nigeria has confirmed that it is aware that some Nigerians used fake visas and deliberately cancel their air tickets after purchasing Personal Travel Allowance and Business Travel Allowance.
Recall that the apex bank mandated financial institutions to make PTA and BTA accessible to Nigerians who need forex to settle important needs for business, to settle foreign medical bills, and foreign school fees.
The order followed the decision of CBN to stop sales of FX to BDC operators who it described as saboteurs.
But less than a month since the new fx policy kicked off, CBN outlined the fraudulent practices going on in the process.
Banks directed to publish names of FX defaulters
The CBN in a communique directed all commercial banks to publish on their websites the names and Bank Verification Numbers of customers who engage in such sharp practices.
Director, Banking Supervision Department, Haruna Mustafa, also revealed that such people also engage in cancellation of air tickets after purchasing PTA and BTA
“The CBN has received and noted with concern reports of sharp practices by some unscrupulous customers to circumvent the new CBN policy on the sale of forex for overseas personal and business travel.
According to CBN, some of the unwholesome practices include:
- Use of fake visas
- Cancellation of air tickets after purchase of PTA/BTA
To curb the practices, the commercial banks were directed to publish on their websites the names and BVN of defaulting customers who present fake travel documents or cancel their tickets and fail to return the purchased PTA/BTA within two (weeks) as stipulated in the customer declaration form signed by them.
Our Take
At InfomediaNG, the CBN is still using archaic management mechanisms to monitor FX market that’s why BDC operators hijacked the FX market from the apex bank.
If the CBN is ready to step on toes , in less than a month, the fx market would be sanitised. CBN knows who the defaulters are, it should come clean, shame them by publicly naming them.
Apart from this, CBN should invest its powers in empowering the core production sectors of Nigeria for naira to regain its value.
CBN needs to encourage local production instead of its selective punitive measures against saboteurs of the FX market.
