Foreign Remittances Payment in Naira-On Going Manipulation by Government-Femi Falana

Human Rights Activist and Lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana(SAN) has described the decision of the Federal Government to order International Money Transfer Operators and money deposit banks to pay Dollar remittances in Naira as an ongoing manipulation by the government.

Mr. Falana(SAN) made this assertion on Saturday on a Radio program monitored in the South West Geo-Political zone of Nigeria.

The Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) had issued a circular dated January 31, stipulating that all in-bound money transfers to Nigeria will only be paid in Naira through a bank account or in cash at the prevailing rate on the Nigeria Foreign Exchange Market.

''The government is not looking at the records. I wrote a petition in 2017, someone sent me money from America, and at the bank where I collected the money, which was not complete, I asked for the shortfall. The banks in foreign countries are benefiting from these monies. Go on the market, the Dollar goes for N1,500, by the next day the price will change. If Diaspora remittances are put at $25 Billion, where does the money go to and recipients are paid in Naira?  We have passed through this part before. It is part of the manipulation that is going on,'' Mr. Falana stated.

He maintained that food security could only be guaranteed when Nigerians, '' mount pressure on the government to invest in mechanized farming, it is no longer feasible to feed our people with cutlasses and hoes. Nigeria has arable land. It is wasting. The government must provide security for farmers.''