BY David Oputah
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emiefele, has been summoned by the federal house of representatives on Thursday the over the new capital base of N35m set for Bureau De Change operators by the apex bank.
The house also directed the governor to suspend the policy, pending the outcome of its inquiry through the committee on banking and finance over reasons for the introduction of the new policy.
Emefiele is expected to meet with the committee at a session to be presided over by the chairman, Mr. Chukwudi Jones-Onyereri.
The CBN had ordered a recapitalization of BDCs in the country from N10 million to N35 million in a bid to check the growing incidence of rent-seeking, depletion of external reserves, financing of unauthorised transactions and dollarisation, among others.
However, the order did not go down well with some BDC operators who rejected the move, saying that it is not feasible to raise such amount.
This led to debate in the house after a motion on urgent public importance moved by Mr Ibrahim Shehu-Gusau, a lawmaker from Zamfara State, to halt the implementation of the policy.
He had argued that the policy would cripple the economic wellbeing of many Nigerians employed in the informal sector, and accused the CBN of deliberately planning to compound the unemployment problems in the country by introducing the policy.
Chairman of the house committee on education, Mr. Aminu Suleiman, observed that the policy implied that a BDC operator would require about N70m to be in business. He therefore appealed to the CBN to reverse it.
Supporting the policy, three lawmakers, Mr. Victor Nwokolo, Mr. Linus Okorie and Mr. Sunday Karibi, argued that the CBN’s target was to strengthen foreign exchange transaction, ensure greater efficiency in the management of BDCs and improve on the power of the naira against the US dollar.
However, when the speaker, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, called for a voice vote, majority of lawmakers endorsed the motion and passed it.
This website uses cookies.