The clearing of a $7 billion foreign exchange (FX) backlog by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been praised by the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA).
It does, however, reaffirm the necessity of taking immediate action to resolve certain organized private sector (OPS) members’ unfulfilled FX requests. Several NACCIMA member companies and other private sector operators have contested the assertion that the backlogs had been cleared, according to a statement from NACCIMA’s National President, Dele Oye.
According to Oye, a number of NACCIMA members have expressed regret that their naira monies were held for an extended period of time—some for more than a year—and that they were left in the dark by the lack of sufficient contact from their particular banks or the CBN.
He recalled how, in order to address the issues, NACCIMA had asked the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, to step in. At that time, the organization had urged for a more thorough and transparent approach to resolving the remaining foreign exchange allocations, stressing the importance of transparency and prompt resolution.
“NACCIMA, NASSI, NASME, and other associations raised these concerns with the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, and the National Assembly acknowledged the seriousness of the situation, which resulted in the Minister of Trade and Investment being summoned to discuss the matter further,” the statement reads.
The statement further stated that on March 21, 2024, the Minister of Trade and Investment called a stakeholder meeting at the Bank of Industry, which included NACCIMA, MAN, concerned banks, and clients, as part of the minister’s preparations for the summons. He claimed that the meeting showed that the CBN had not made any official announcements about the rejection of FX bids.
As a result, the minister urged all parties to pursue dialogue and warned against taking actions like litigation that could obstruct such discussion. It was revealed that Deloitte, the consulting firm hired by the CBN for verification, had not directly engaged with the affected banks or their customers for clarification on any contentious transactions.
“Considering these events, NACCIMA makes a strong plea to the CBN to work closely with the Minister of Trade and Investment, the banking industry, and the people they serve to settle any unresolved matters pertaining to valid letters of credit for which Naira has already been collected (for a considerable amount of time) with a guarantee of fulfillment,” stated Oye.
