Rahma Ahmed
By Ahmed Rahma
To further demonstrate its ongoing commitment to offering customers easy and convenient ways to send and receive money, a cross-border digital payments service, WorldRemit, has launched a service for customers in Nigeria to receive foreign transfers in their bank accounts in US dollars.
This move follows the new directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on offshore remittances and it comes ahead of the Christmas and New Year celebrations.
The ability to transfer money to USD denominated bank accounts in Nigeria offers greater flexibility and payment options for those sending money transfers to support those back home during the festive season instead of visiting in person.
According to a survey conducted by WorldRemit, about 30 per cent of respondents said they do not intend to travel for the celebration due to pandemic-related travel concerns, giving room for them to make fund transfers in the period.
The central bank had said in a report that the annual remittance inflows to Nigeria are estimated to be approximately $24 billion and these funds can be used to finance activities like education, medical costs, daily living expenses and investments into new opportunities.
Because of the huge opportunities in this sector, WorldRemit has made it possible to send money from outside the country, including the United Kingdom and the United States for cash pickup in US dollars and is now facilitating bank transfers to offer greater convenience for senders and recipients.
“Ensuring that our customers are able to transfer money to friends and family back home safely and as quickly as possible is why we exist.
“We’re constantly looking for ways to improve our services. We hope that by making it possible to send money to USD bank accounts in Nigeria, this gives our customers more flexibility and options to receive the money which we know is a welcome development during this festive season,” the Country Manager, Nigeria and Ghana at WorldRemit, Mr Gbenga Okejimi said.
