The Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) on Friday called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to allow and empower its members to be involved in outward fund transfer for Diaspora remittance growth.
The President of ABCON, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
He noted that only International Money Transfer Operators (IMTSO) and banks were allowed to transfer funds out, at the moment.
Gwadabe spoke on the backdrop of the just-concluded investigative hearing by the House of Representative Committees on the Diaspora, Banking and Currency, and National Planning on Diaspora remittances from January 2016 to December 2019.
At the hearing, the Director, Trade and Exchange, CBN, Ms Ozemena Nnaji, told the committees that contrary to the World Bank’s reports saying Nigeria received 25 million dollars Diaspora remittances in 2019, the CBN received only 10 million dollars from 2016 to 2019.
Gwadabe said: “In order for us not to have conflicting issues bothering on statistics of even the monies that are coming into this country, and to close the gap and correct the differences, this is where the CBN should continue to use BDCs to liberalise the policy.
“BDCs should not be restricted to the physical cash aspect of that money, they should be involved in outward funds transfer, especially in terms of customs payment and school fees, etc.”
The ABCON president said that the association which had over 4,000 registered members, had improved its business model.
He said that the improved business model would enhance transparency, adding that operators were already leveraging on it to track operations.
“Our association has come up with automation which the over 4,000 members are registered on the platform.
” We have integrated their operations, and in fact, they are even rendering their returns to CBN through that automation.
“This is a signal that we have leveraged on information technology, and our business model have also changed,” he said. (NAN)
