By Modupe Gbadeyanka
All commercial banks operating in Nigeria have been ordered by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to open outlets at the nation’s major airports for the sale of foreign exchange to their customers.
This move, according to the CBN, is to ease the pressure on the country’s local currency, the Naira, at the forex market.
The acute shortage of Dollar has weakened the Naira against the US Dollar, exchanging above N500 at the parallel market at the moment.
The apex bank, in a statement issued yesterday by its spokesman, Mr Isaac Okorafor, noted that this directive must be met “as soon as logistics permit.”
The CBN said it would sustain forex to retail end-users (PTA, BTA, School fees, medical bills, etc) and expects these retail forex transactions to be settled at a “rate not exceeding 20 percent above the interbank market rate,” which presently stands at N305.50k per Dollar.
This means the Dollar should not be exchanged more than N370 against about N522 it sells at the parallel market.
The CBN promised to “continuously and vigorously pursue a transparent, liquid, and efficient FX market” and warned it “would neither tolerate unscrupulous actions nor hesitate to bring serious sanctions on offenders, be the banks or their staff.”
Dipo Olowookere 
Aduragbemi Omiyale