The Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) declared that the competitive diaspora remittance market introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria will bring about naira stability.
Aminu Gwadabe, the ABCON president, explained that there is the need to break the monopoly of some certain players in the remittances space by allowing the participation of other stakeholders like BDCs in the realm of remittances.
The ABCON president added that Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, etc, have all deepened their remittance space through a heavily competitive market space.
Gwadabe said measures taken by the aforementioned countries have enabled them to achieve volumes, leading to the stability of their local currencies.
The ABCON boss noted that the naira for dollar measure was among the many recent strategies deployed by the CBN to attract more diaspora remittances into the official channel and address the foreign exchange liquidity concerns in the market.
According to him, “There is no doubt the incentive will be somehow attractive to the targeted beneficiaries of the remittances and therefore aimed to address concerns of one of the principal ally in the chain of remittances.”
He explained further that statistics from the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) suggested that over 17 million Nigerians legally residing in the diaspora remitted over $20 million dollars in 2020 in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gwadabe said: “This, therefore, suggests that it is a window, if well-articulated and includes all the principal allies in the remittances space, will help the Nigerian economy for the availability of FX liquidity.”