HOW IS FOREX BEING ALLOCATED?
Is there some one out there, in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or with the Federal Ministry of Finance who can brief Nigerians at regular intervals on how much comes in as foreign exchange from what activity; and who or which industry was allocated forex through letters of credit especially?
This information is needed urgently not because there is any doubt over the integrity and patriotism of those allocating the funds now; but because current allocations must be seen by all making the asked for sacrifices to be fair and patriotic.
If not the old credibility gap between government and the governed will become a problem once again.
It will be interesting to know how much the president's almost nonresident status costs Nigeria on the form of allocated forex for expenses and estacode comes to, for example.
Also interesting will be brief, say monthly, on how much flowed in from crude oil sales; gas sales; remittances from Nigerians abroad and non-oil exports.
Then of course, monthly brief on allocation to which industry could come in handy in reassuring stakeholders that all is being allocated in the best interest of the Nigerian economy.
Perhaps such briefs too could touch on volume and value of outstanding LCs, by whom opened and for how long. This may help deter companies from submitting multiple LCs to increase chances of forex allocation.
Multiple LCs could be akin to what obtains when there is scarcity of a major product like petrol. People are tempted to engage in panic buying to hoard at home.
Along this line, the recent publication by banks of their forex sale was very helpful in exposing not just where the whole thing was going but more importantly, threw up for public view flows for school fees and medical bills that need to be more closely studied.
Above all, in times of scarcity citizens find it easier to sacrifice and do as told with less complain when they are informed in clear terms what the needed sacrifice leads to or is utilised for.
Comments
Post a Comment