Aduragbemi Omiyale
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reassured foreign exchange (FX) users that their legitimate needs for foreign currencies would always be met as they have nothing to worry about.
The Director of the Corporate Communications Department of the CBN, Mr Osita Nwanisobi, gave this assurance while speaking with reporters in Abuja on Wednesday.
Mr Nwanisobi was reacting to an advisory by a United Kingdom-based university to Nigerian students schooling abroad that they should “take advantage of the CBN Form A discounted rate while this is still available.”
The institution specifically based in Manchester had suggested that students may have to pay more from January 2023 due to the purported withdrawal of the Form A discounted rate, with effect from December 31, 2022.
It had urged students whose tuitions were paid from Nigeria to pay up as much portion of their outstanding fees as possible, through Flywire prior to December 31, 2022, based on claims that the central bank planned to withdraw the Form A discounted rate in order to encourage more funds to remain within the Nigerian economy.
But Mr Nwanisobi described this as misleading and speculative, noting that the apex bank had not issued such a policy. He cautioned concerned parents and students to disregard any advisory to pay up as much portion of their outstanding fees as possible, through Flywire, prior to December 31, 2022.
According to him, front-loading (for both visible goods and invisibles) is contrary to the provisions of extant regulations, assuring that the bank will continue to meet all legitimate demands for forex.
He urged all authorised dealers to ensure that payments for tuition outside Nigeria are made no earlier than 30 days prior to the due date, charging them to put in place measures to forestall abuse.
