.Vows to sanction fraudulent customers
COMFORT EKELEME, Business Editor
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bankers’ Committee will soon digitalize the sales of foreogn exchange, Forex for legitimate needs through the creation of an App.
The committee also warned Nigerians to desist from fraudulent practices and fraudulent transactions, adding that fraudulent individuals will be reported to the CBN for sanction.
At the end of its 357th meeting held virtually Thursday, the Committee maintained that Nigerian Banks are in support of legitimate demand, and will ensure that people get their foreign exchange.
Such legitimate needs include Business Travel Allowance (BTA), Personal Travel Allowance (PTA), school fees and medicals.
Group Chief Executive Officer GTCO, Mr. Segun Agbaje while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the meeting said that banks and the regulators have taken the new FX policy with regards to BTA, school fees, and medicals upon themselves, adding that this is just the first phase.
He said “if you notice, most of the things we are doing today, we are going into branches to do those things and we are going to digitalize the whole process. Today there is already a portal where the banks share information, it is a very important information because, we have started to see that people are trying to defraud the system, and the banks are reporting the individuals to the Central Bank.
“The likely punishment is that their account will be PMD and that means you will not be able to do anything in the account.
“In addition to digitizing the process, we are also hoping that transactions will not just be cash; the world today is not friendly with arriving in countries with cash. Those people who will be qualified for school fees, BTAs will be people who have bank accounts; we are encouraging people to go to their own banks.
“Progress to date is very good, ensuring that people have legitimate needs to be met; we do not want fraudulent transactions,” he said.
Also speaking, Managing Director of Citibank, Samuel Ogbu noted that it is important for the public to know that there would be sanctions when people abuse the system, adding that the policy is all about ensuring that foreign exchange is fairly allocated among legitimate users.
“We have digital means of being able to determine that people are using fraudulent documentations,” he said.
Managing Director of First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Mrs. Yemisi Edu maintained that the banks are ready, prepared to support this initiative.
She said, “We have been attending to customers as they have been coming. We are using digital means to take records, to take data, we have portal that we have established and we do not want fraudulent practices, there is going to be ways and means to track all these. We have noticed people coming with airline tickets and afterwards, they go and cancel the tickets.
“Those are behaviors we do not want to support; we will not like customers to game the system. As much as possible, we will encourage you use your bank for this process, because we want to turn things to digital as much as possible.
“We want to look at digital means of crediting cards instead of carrying cash. All the banks are prepared, we have all our teller points, we are more than ready and CBN is committed to funding these transactions,” she said.
Managing Director of Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe urged Nigerians to comply with the rules as stipulated by the CBN.
On the ongoing rehabilitation of the National Arts Theatre Lagos, Wigwe said work has commenced in earnest.
He recalled that the Bankers Committee and the CBN had agreed to support work at the theatre, adding that most of the contracts will be awarded next month, while the entire project is expected to be completed by December 2022.
Managing Director of Unity Bank, Tomi Somefun on her own maintained that when completed, the National Theatre will boost the economy, especially the economy of Lagos state.
“It will create jobs and boost tourism; it will be a landmark for events and concerts. This is an initiative we are very proud of, and we pray that we will in a very short period see a successful completion,” she said.
The Bankers’ Committee however, believe that the National Theatre, when completed, will bring back the glory days and help the youths to fulfill their dreams.
