Rating:


I think stopping the use of domiciliary accounts in Nigeria is very counter-productive. Individuals and businesses need to continue to maintain such accounts, though there must be reasonable limits - one of which is that it must be to ONLY fulfil foreign financial obligations. This is more important for those who earn in USD and still live in Nigeria. That must not be discouraged.

Other countries allow their citizens hold Forex (USD, EUR, GBP) accounts as needed, but local transactions are forced to be in local currencies among other necessary restrictions.

And as you clearly stated, it's exactly because of "the gross abuse of the freedom by our politicians" that legitimate businesses and individuals should not be made to suffer unnecessarily.

I beg to disagree. You can work, earn dollar and be paid in Naira. It’s just a matter of system setup and agreement with our banking institutions.

Give us proof here about other DEVELOPED countries that allow INDIVIDUALS of her citizens to open a domiciliary account.
My brother, ko si.
Countries that allow individuals do it are less developed like Nigeria and we don’t want to play in the leagues of such underdeveloped countries again.

Organizations that want to import should apply through approved windows via their banks. It is their banks that would take from their Naira account and ‘convert’ it to the foreign currencies such organization is paying with.

Organizations shouldn’t maintain foreign currencies accounts on Nigerian soil.

Rating:


I think stopping the use of domiciliary accounts in Nigeria is very counter-productive. Individuals and businesses need to continue to maintain such accounts, though there must be reasonable limits - one of which is that it must be to ONLY fulfil foreign financial obligations. This is more important for those who earn in USD and still live in Nigeria. That must not be discouraged.

Other countries allow their citizens hold Forex (USD, EUR, GBP) accounts as needed, but local transactions are forced to be in local currencies among other necessary restrictions.

And as you clearly stated, it's exactly because of "the gross abuse of the freedom by our politicians" that legitimate businesses and individuals should not be made to suffer unnecessarily.

I align with your counter-argument on this. Our system is just too porous for abuse. Measures need to be taken to prevent these abuses.

nairalanda1:


Well, the Afghans had fresh inflow of dollars, in form of humanitarian aid, which is where the strength came from.

We need to earn more forex, otherwise any other measure won't work.

Show us proof. Stop believing most western news media.
All aids that came for Afghans before the US left were seized.
It is afghan government that banned all foreign currencies in their country. That’s why their currency is able to rise in value. Even they banned spending of Pakistani and Indian Rupees, which they easily spent before the new law.

Emmerlee:


You are on point, except for the one below:

"Then all banks must stop the practice of opening domiciliary accounts for Nigerians in Nigeria. They can sell debit cards in naira and charge the prevailing exchange rate for international transactions like e-commerce. This used to be the practice. I wonder who stopped it."

Some people do business abroad and receive inflows in USD. For instance, IMers pay for advertising services in USD and receive their earnings in USD into their domiciliary accounts. For this the inflow is often much more than the outflow which also helps the economy. I'd say as long as you receive your inflows directly from abroad you should be allowed to operate a domiciliary account. The only worry is with those that source for dollars locally for the sake of hoarding them and making illicit gains at the expense of the Naira.

I've also thought about this. To address such, the inflow to such account should be only through electronic means, and there should be no cash outflow but electronic outflow of the funds.
Alternatively, to avoid hoarding of such fund for speculatory reasons, the dom account can just be a transit account, so no one keeps fund in the account, the funds dropped in such account are remitted to the individual or company local account at prevailing FX rate, and if you need fund, it is sent through same way

You need to go the banks and see peeps bringing in cash deposit in dollars, you need to see some mens home in ikoyi , lekki, lere obudu and co they gat dollars stashed in cash thats their currency cos a hundred thousand dolls in cash can fit into their babaringa or combat shot without anyone knowing this is a rich man passing. And that 100k dolls in naira is 147 million naira (i kid you not) so imagine the hole the president is trying to dig nigeria out of while also having to fight unpatriotic elements and elite saboteurs.

Ayomipoe:
I imagine you mean well.
I’d like to add a few comments though. Your policies about the use of dollar will fall flat and even cause more problems.

Have you tried to get a BTA/PTA recently? Then you should know how inefficient the process is.

Or gone through all the hoops of Form M and Form A?

Would you then say we should use only Nigerian phones ? Or only Nigerian made things? We don’t make a majority of what we consume.

Short of turning our society to a police state, and even then, our outrageous corruption will prevent those policies you have mentioned about the dollarization of the economy to work.

If you want to burn speculators, the government needs doings and actions. All the talk of hunting down saboteurs is hogwash as far as am concerned. I will continue to short the naira.

If we have a well regulated system, it will be easy to buy those BTA/PTA you mentioned. That’s why they need to cancel dom accounts. Cancel use of Form A etc.
Apply from your Naira account. The bank will do the conversion from the window trading platform and take their charges for doing this for you.
No need to go CBN to apply for BTA/PTA on your behalf. It is the corr.upt.ion in CBN and among our commercial banks that put us in this mess.
That Form A, Form M thingy is the most crudest way of handling international transactions but since that’s the only thing you are exposed to, you would think that’s the best in the world. It’s not.
I have worked for a company that wanted to move 2billion dollar in 2016 to Switzerland from our Skyebank account. The CBN staff that would facilitate moving it called my oga and said their own cut would be N40million Naira if they helped us move it. My oga said he could understand them being a Nigerian but how would he explain that to his Manager who is oyibo and based in Europe.

The way Bitcoin is being traded on different platform is the way they trade forex abroad. Na only Nigerian case dey dey different.

If you have Ethereum and want to use it to buy another coin, your Ethereum’s equivalence is taken and converted to the coin you are buying.
You don’t maintain another coin account of the coin you are buying.
Only system setup does the conversion and your platform takes its own cut as charges.

themanderon:



Sometimes ago the Afghanistan Afghani was the highest performing currency in the world. How did the do it? They made it a crime to transact business in any other currency than the Afghani. They also made it that foreigners must buy their goods with the Afghani so you have to change your dollars to trade in Afghanistan. They also banned the importation of many goods
Even the Russian rouble was able to stay strong despite the hassles and pressures it faced from the West because the Russians made it that you must buy their rubble before you can buy their oil and gas and that foiled the wicked plans of the Europeans.
Unless we apply these measures our Naira will continue to be useless.
Politicians, greedy BDC operators, and banks are the ones artificially driving the naira nuts. Except they reign in on their activities the naira is doomed.

Thanks jare, my brother. Didn’t even know you have answered the dindinrin well.
They know nothing about economy. Th eu only use their imagination to write comments here and the little they hear from their propaganda sources.
Without banning dom account or reducing its balance considerably in corporate accounts, Naira is going no where upward because we don’t manufacture most things we need.

Let our banks and CBN be transparent about forex handling and allow every buyer to be able to buy online through the official window after being successfully verified that the transaction is genuine and we will see Naira appreciate.

All diaspra remittances should be collected in Naira or paid into accounts in Naira.
Leave CBN and other authorized institutions to deal in foreign currencies where it is mandatorily important they do.

emkz:
What MUST be done:

1 Outright ban of the use of dollars within Nigeria.

2 Give holders of dollars a month to put it in the banking system after which it will be seized if found on the holders.

3 People like Herbert Wigwe charging tuition fees in their universities in dollars need to be compelled to pay their workers in dollars and also pay electricity bills, diesel bills, and other expenses in dollars.

4 All BDCs must be heavily regulated and if dollars is sold to anyone, the reason must be compelling and must be traceable.

5 Arrest politicians found with dollars.

6 We can't afford to have accounts opened in foreign currencies within Nigeria. Our economy can't support it.

7 Some of the things we import are not needed. Therefore impose heavy taxes on luxury cars, foreign wines, clothing, and food. Visit shops and hike the tax on foreign commodities like cashew, apples, and shoes. Nigeria is a big market. The least Toyota and Honda owes us is to run assembly plants within Nigeria.

8 NNPC must be stopped from selling crude oil to local refiners in dollars.

9 No company, including foreign ones, must be allowed to pay any worker in foreign currency. The idea of working in Nigeria is that you spend your earnings in Nigeria. If you want to remit funds abroad, use proper banking channels to do your transfer and pay the appropriate fees.

10 We found out that some embassies in Nigeria collect visa fees in foreign currencies in cash in Nigeria. We call on the foreign affairs minister to call those ambassadors to stop the practice. Some of these embassies use the desperation of our people to prey on them and commit crimes that cannot be tolerated elsewhere. Any embassy operating in Nigeria that cannot respect and idolize our naira should close and go elsewhere where such crimes of collecting a non-legal tender within a country they operate in is allowed. If they collect naira, they can use our banks to remit the funds or use online transfers so they can get the forex equivalent of the naira charges in their accounts in their countries. I call on Nigerians to be bold enough to report some of these embassies for the sharp practices.

11 Some of the embassies in Nigeria are desperately corrupt. Especially of some countries in the EU.

Practical solutions but this fellow that made this comment will never be allowed close to the corridor of power to Influence anything. You have said it all my brother, but people like us with sense will not win even your household if you contest for any post in Nigeria.

Naijanascam:
They should start from the top if they are to be taken serious...

agreed

FreeStuffsNG seunmsg moh247 talented321 duro4chang NLPoliceWoman TemplarLandry

What's your opinion on this...? Any? I guess not!

#TeamEbinPaWa

nairavsdollars:
Anything to bring the price down is acceptable. 1 dollar to N1,500 is simply outrageous

You guys do not know anything, acting like witches. whop told you the price of dollar or value of dollar has gone up. Ode it is your useless naira that has come down, not the dollar going up. dollar has maintained a stable value for years now. trying working on bringing your currency value up and stop thinking of bringing dollar down. when Tinubu advised your useless PMB then to print excess naira to pay salary didn't you know that the Niara will lose value.

Fiscus105:
I said this few days ago, one foolish nairalander arguing blindly as usual.

Several transactions are going within Nigeria territory with dollar transactions, all this are putting enomous pressure on naira.

Puting which pressure on the Niara. were those transactions not going on before now. When Obaseki shouted at the top of his voice the last time that Buhari was printing Naira recklessly did you not hear. what did you all Niara did at that time, and you all thought the Naira will not lose value abi. now you are all dealing with the consequence, I am tired for you Nigerians always looking for the easiest way out of every problem and that is why you all are keeping landing into more calamities for yourselves.

emkz:


This is the first time in years that they really want to take action against the use of dollars within the country. I agree that everyone must be touched starting from politicians.

And when your president keeps printing naira like paper you believe your currency will have any value abi. You guys are a huge joker. you do not want to go into any form of production, and you want your currency to have value. you all are just one and the same as your leaders.

emkz:
What MUST be done:

1 Outright ban of the use of dollars within Nigeria.

2 Give holders of dollars a month to put it in the banking system after which it will be seized if found on the holders.

3 People like Herbert Wigwe charging tuition fees in their universities in dollars need to be compelled to pay their workers in dollars and also pay electricity bills, diesel bills, and other expenses in dollars.

4 All BDCs must be heavily regulated and if dollars is sold to anyone, the reason must be compelling and must be traceable.

5 Arrest politicians found with dollars.

6 We can't afford to have accounts opened in foreign currencies within Nigeria. Our economy can't support it.

7 Some of the things we import are not needed. Therefore impose heavy taxes on luxury cars, foreign wines, clothing, and food. Visit shops and hike the tax on foreign commodities like cashew, apples, and shoes. Nigeria is a big market. The least Toyota and Honda owes us is to run assembly plants within Nigeria.

8 NNPC must be stopped from selling crude oil to local refiners in dollars.

9 No company, including foreign ones, must be allowed to pay any worker in foreign currency. The idea of working in Nigeria is that you spend your earnings in Nigeria. If you want to remit funds abroad, use proper banking channels to do your transfer and pay the appropriate fees.

10 We found out that some embassies in Nigeria collect visa fees in foreign currencies in cash in Nigeria. We call on the foreign affairs minister to call those ambassadors to stop the practice. Some of these embassies use the desperation of our people to prey on them and commit crimes that cannot be tolerated elsewhere. Any embassy operating in Nigeria that cannot respect and idolize our naira should close and go elsewhere where such crimes of collecting a non-legal tender within a country they operate in is allowed. If they collect naira, they can use our banks to remit the funds or use online transfers so they can get the forex equivalent of the naira charges in their accounts in their countries. I call on Nigerians to be bold enough to report some of these embassies for the sharp practices.

11 Some of the embassies in Nigeria are desperately corrupt. Especially of some countries in the EU.

So you are declaring war on the dollar then. what about other currencies like the yuan and cefa are you going to declare war on them too.
You want to do all that and at the same time you want your government to print excess paper and naira to collect all your goods and services. they are printing Naira beyond the capacity of goods and service they can render, what do you expect will happen to the Naira. You are all so lame to buy the gibberish from some cheap media without doing any form of reasoning. i am tired for you people i swear.

And you think that is a way to boost the naira?? Even the dollar is falling that is why we still have naira dangling at N1500/$… the only way to save the naira is export, investment, tackle corruption(biggest problem), boost tourism and stop printing money… Custom pegged the dollar from 900naira to 1250naira. That is 40% increase and you say you want naira to go down. Lol

emkz:


It is actually a crime. It is not a legal tender WITHIN Nigeria. You are not expected to use it to do any business transaction in Nigeria or charge anything and expect to be paid in dollars. The only places where you can use dollars are airports and hotels. Many hotels show their fees in dollars, euros, pounds and whatever, but you are compelled to pay in the local currency.

In a country like South Africa, if you bring dollar to pay for anything outside the airport, no one would collect it from you. You must convert it to the local rand. In Germany, if you bring out the dollar to transact anything, be sure the police will be looking for you because they'd assume you are a drug dealer.

Nosa111:
And you think that is a way to boost the naira?? Even the dollar is falling that is why we still have naira dangling at N1500/$… the only way to save the naira is export, investment, tackle corruption(biggest problem), boost tourism and stop printing money… Custom pegged the dollar from 900naira to 1250naira. That is 40% increase and you say you want naira to go down. Lol

The argument I am making, which some people (not you) still do not understand and bandy insults like little children when they have no reasonable counter-argument, is that we should stop using dollars in the Nigerian economy as it is not a legal tender within Nigeria. The same people who destroyed the naira are the ones switching to dollars and those are the people we must stop. Remove easy access to dollars from them let us see what they'd do.

The controls I proposed are a measure to phase out dollars from the hands of these people. Who exactly handles the dollars? Is it not politicians and government officials? The poor man on the street has probably never seen dollar bills in his life. Someone argued that as soon as the governors receive allocations, they convert a substantial sum to dollars which drives up the exchange rate. How does government sell dollars for people to hold in their hands? Please how does this make sense? If you want to buy forex in an airport, you must present a boarding pass and they'd issue you a receipt because the funds they give you must be traceable. They also have a limit of how much they can sell to you. If you bring a large sum, they wouldn't dare do it and are compelled to alert the police. But in Nigeria, people buy dollars, euros and pounds as if they are buying common commodities like toilet paper.

It must stop!

A lot of things are just wrong. The dollar is not a legal tender in Nigeria. Those who destroyed the naira should use it like the rest of us. They must not touch our dollar reserves which should be for more important things like import of machinery to run factories for example.

To increase dollar liquidity for government, I outlined various strategies in an earlier post. Why does the government tolerate illegal mining for example? Two days ago, they seized 12 trucks loaded with lithium and arrested 41 persons who claimed foreigners and some wealthy Nigerians are involved in the practice. Then the NNPC has mortgaged future earnings from crude oil for senseless debts which Buhari took.

Who runs a country like that?

We must plug the leakages, widen the areas to earn forex, export more commodities, tackle insecurity and kill the incentive for dollarization. If a politician is sent to jail for having too much unexplained dollars, the rest will sit up. In the UK, a former governor of Bayelsa State was arrested because a huge sum of money was found on him. He forfeited the money and still lost his properties. A former commissioner of arts and culture in Edo State was also arrested for allegedly laundering money through Italy. He was jailed.

If we want a sane country, the government must take total control of the forex in the hands of people.

fxexperts:
So you are declaring war on the dollar then. what about other currencies like the yuan and cefa are you going to declare war on them too.
You want to do all that and at the same time you want your government to print excess paper and naira to collect all your goods and services. they are printing Naira beyond the capacity of goods and service they can render, what do you expect will happen to the Naira. You are all so lame to buy the gibberish from some cheap media without doing any form of reasoning. i am tired for you people i swear.

If all you can get from what you read is a declaration of war on the dollar, then it is not my fault if your brain can't process something so simple. I'd explain it to you once and if you still don't get it, I leave you to your antics.

I am not declaring war on the dollar. I am simply saying the dollar is not a legal tender within Nigeria. It is what the law says per the CBN Act 2007, and even an idiot will understand that. If you want the dollar to be a legal tender, first amend the laws. The only people who should handle dollars are banks and the government, and the flow must be controlled.

Unfortunately, the CBN over the years flouted their own regulations which has led to the mess we are in now. Of course it wouldn't have been a problem if we had enough dollars, but even if we did, it is still ilegal.

Individuals handling any currency in a country where the currency is not a legal tender is a crime. Only an extremely daft person will not assimilate that.

You have very good suggestions.

emkz:
What MUST be done:

1 Outright ban of the use of dollars within Nigeria.

2 Give holders of dollars a month to put it in the banking system after which it will be seized if found on the holders.

3 People like Herbert Wigwe charging tuition fees in their universities in dollars need to be compelled to pay their workers in dollars and also pay electricity bills, diesel bills, and other expenses in dollars.

4 All BDCs must be heavily regulated and if dollars is sold to anyone, the reason must be compelling and must be traceable.

5 Arrest politicians found with dollars.

6 We can't afford to have accounts opened in foreign currencies within Nigeria. Our economy can't support it.

7 Some of the things we import are not needed. Therefore impose heavy taxes on luxury cars, foreign wines, clothing, and food. Visit shops and hike the tax on foreign commodities like cashew, apples, and shoes. Nigeria is a big market. The least Toyota and Honda owes us is to run assembly plants within Nigeria.

8 NNPC must be stopped from selling crude oil to local refiners in dollars.

9 No company, including foreign ones, must be allowed to pay any worker in foreign currency. The idea of working in Nigeria is that you spend your earnings in Nigeria. If you want to remit funds abroad, use proper banking channels to do your transfer and pay the appropriate fees.

10 We found out that some embassies in Nigeria collect visa fees in foreign currencies in cash in Nigeria. We call on the foreign affairs minister to call those ambassadors to stop the practice. Some of these embassies use the desperation of our people to prey on them and commit crimes that cannot be tolerated elsewhere. Any embassy operating in Nigeria that cannot respect and idolize our naira should close and go elsewhere where such crimes of collecting a non-legal tender within a country they operate in is allowed. If they collect naira, they can use our banks to remit the funds or use online transfers so they can get the forex equivalent of the naira charges in their accounts in their countries. I call on Nigerians to be bold enough to report some of these embassies for the sharp practices.

11 Some of the embassies in Nigeria are desperately corrupt. Especially of some countries in the EU.

emkz:
EFCC Raises Special Task Force against Dollarization of Economy & Mutilation of Currency


https://www.efcc.gov.ng/efcc/news-and-information/news-release/9743-efcc-raises-special-task-force-against-dollarization-of-economy-mutilation-of-currency

EFCC is just waking up to there responsibility...it's late

OlujobaSamuel:

This statement of yours is false.
Demanding for another country currency within the country as a means of exchange of value is illegal in any sovereign nation.
The CBN is the only issuer of legal tender, and our legal tender is the naira and Kobo.

Selling cocaine is illegal, prostitution is prohibited and foreign rice is contraband. That hasn't stopped Nigerians from partaking in all those and more.

And selling Naira on the black market is illegal but that's where ordinary people go BECAUSE the government has set a cheaper price at CBN that only connected people can get.

So you can be sure - stopping use of dollar in Nigeria is IMPOSSIBLE and in fact the Director of EFCC himself likely uses dollars on a daily basis to simply live his life. Likewise all the big politicians and government officials.

The ONLY way to create natural demand for the naira is to make it a good currency. First, stop the reckless printing of naira!

Second, float it so everyone pays same price, including government. It doesn't feel good that some special person can get dollar cheaper than me because they're a Big Man.

Central Bank and budget report shows the current government printed 2.6 trillion between June and December last year! HEEELLLOOOOOO!!!!!!

Increased suppy = lower value + inflation.

Which makes this below quote the best and most succinct on this topic

adonuj:
EFCC are experts in pursuing symptoms.

Good Luck to Nigerians!

BREAKING NEWS....first hand info. Apparently banks are now refusing to payout remittances in dollar.

So let's see how this will play out. My prediction - dollar inflow will be reduced and the price of dollars will increase.

Apparently they think the CBN and Black Market rates are close enough. No, it's NOT. Only a full and complete float will do.

Good Luck to Nigeria.

emkz:


If all you can get from what you read is a declaration of war on the dollar, then it is not my fault if your brain can't process something so simple. I'd explain it to you once and if you still don't get it, I leave you to your antics.

I am not declaring war on the dollar. I am simply saying the dollar is not a legal tender within Nigeria. It is what the law says per the CBN Act 2007, and even an idiot will understand that. If you want the dollar to be a legal tender, first amend the laws. The only people who should handle dollars are banks and the government, and the flow must be controlled.

Unfortunately, the CBN over the years flouted their own regulations which has led to the mess we are in now. Of course it wouldn't have been a problem if we had enough dollars, but even if we did, it is still ilegal.

Individuals handling any currency in a country where the currency is not a legal tender is a crime. Only an extremely daft person will not assimilate that.

I will only agree with your post if only we have a sane system to work with. but in this country, nothing and no one is sane. I agree dollar is not a legal tender here in Nigeria and i have not seen anyone spending dollar in Nigeria either, the only people who buy dollar in the street from those abokis are people who wants to pay for a foreign goods or services abroad, apart from now that the Naira is in a free fall and they just want to keep the value of their money constant and do not want to lose it to some incompetent government who doesn't give a bleep about them. Show me any market you will go to in Nigeria, and they will ask you to pay for goods in dollar. and for your info individual handling currency that is not a legal tender is never a crime, it only becomes a crime when you want to trade in that currency, and i repeat show me any market in Nigeria where you are required to pay for goods and services in foreign currency. when i was in the UK some time ago i had some Naira note with me, why did they not arrest me since it is a crime. I still remember the first time i opened a domiciliary account was when i want to pay for course in the UK and no bank in Nigeria was willing to take my Niara and pay for me in pounds i had to go through the hassle of opening a dorm account and went to those Aboki to buy dollar to put in the account before i was able to pay.

emkz:
What MUST be done:

1 Outright ban of the use of dollars within Nigeria.

2 Give holders of dollars a month to put it in the banking system after which it will be seized if found on the holders.

3 People like Herbert Wigwe charging tuition fees in their universities in dollars need to be compelled to pay their workers in dollars and also pay electricity bills, diesel bills, and other expenses in dollars.

4 All BDCs must be heavily regulated and if dollars is sold to anyone, the reason must be compelling and must be traceable.

5 Arrest politicians found with dollars.

6 We can't afford to have accounts opened in foreign currencies within Nigeria. Our economy can't support it.

7 Some of the things we import are not needed. Therefore impose heavy taxes on luxury cars, foreign wines, clothing, and food. Visit shops and hike the tax on foreign commodities like cashew, apples, and shoes. Nigeria is a big market. The least Toyota and Honda owes us is to run assembly plants within Nigeria.

8 NNPC must be stopped from selling crude oil to local refiners in dollars.

9 No company, including foreign ones, must be allowed to pay any worker in foreign currency. The idea of working in Nigeria is that you spend your earnings in Nigeria. If you want to remit funds abroad, use proper banking channels to do your transfer and pay the appropriate fees.

10 We found out that some embassies in Nigeria collect visa fees in foreign currencies in cash in Nigeria. We call on the foreign affairs minister to call those ambassadors to stop the practice. Some of these embassies use the desperation of our people to prey on them and commit crimes that cannot be tolerated elsewhere. Any embassy operating in Nigeria that cannot respect and idolize our naira should close and go elsewhere where such crimes of collecting a non-legal tender within a country they operate in is allowed. If they collect naira, they can use our banks to remit the funds or use online transfers so they can get the forex equivalent of the naira charges in their accounts in their countries. I call on Nigerians to be bold enough to report some of these embassies for the sharp practices.

11 Some of the embassies in Nigeria are desperately corrupt. Especially of some countries in the EU.

Your head is correct

fxexperts:
I will only agree with your post if only we have a sane system to work with. but in this country, nothing and no one is sane. I agree dollar is not a legal tender here in Nigeria and i have not seen anyone spending dollar in Nigeria either, the only people who buy dollar in the street from those abokis are people who wants to pay for a foreign goods or services abroad, apart from now that the Naira is in a free fall and they just want to keep the value of their money constant and do not want to lose it to some incompetent government who doesn't give a bleep about them.

Buying dollar or any forex from street dealers or aboki is illegal in Nigeria and yet thousands of people do it every day.

Good Luck to Nigerians.

IbeOkehie:


Buying dollar or any forex from street dealers or aboki is illegal in Nigeria and yet thousands of people do it every day.

Good Luck to Nigerians.

Then how do you expect them to get their dollar, when the banks has obviously refused to sell to them. For your info the BDC guys are licensed by the CBN so how that makes it illegal. you all should say what you know please. buying dollar from Burean the change is legal not illegal.

fxexperts:
I will only agree with your post if only we have a sane system to work with. but in this country, nothing and no one is sane. I agree dollar is not a legal tender here in Nigeria and i have not seen anyone spending dollar in Nigeria either, the only people who buy dollar in the street from those abokis are people who wants to pay for a foreign goods or services abroad, apart from now that the Naira is in a free fall and they just want to keep the value of their money constant and do not want to lose it to some incompetent government who doesn't give a bleep about them. Show me any market you will go to in Nigeria, and they will ask you to pay for goods in dollar. and for your info individual handling currency that is not a legal tender is never a crime, it only becomes a crime when you want to trade in that currency, and i repeat show me any market in Nigeria where you are required to pay for goods and services in foreign currency. when i was in the UK some time ago i had some Naira note with me, why did they not arrest me since it is a crime. I still remember the first time i opened a domiciliary account was when i want to pay for course in the UK and no bank in Nigeria was willing to take my Niara and pay for me in pounds i had to go through the hassle of opening a dorm account and went to those Aboki to buy dollar to put in the account before i was able to pay.

You seem like a sensible person, but with some limited understanding. It is not an insult, please. You raised some questions and sought clarifications.

I'd offer you some clarifications and hope you'd accept them in good faith.

Wigwe University charges tuition fees in dollars.
https://www.wigweuniversity.edu.ng/tuitionfess/

When issues were raised, they claimed it was for international students. They are still yet to show us the fees for local students. Even for international students, they cannot charge in dollars. There is no justification for it.

The Polish Embassy in Nigeria collects consular fees in cash, in Euros!
https://www.gov.pl/web/nigeria-en/consular-fees

Some people rent out their properties in Nigeria in dollars, while some merchants sell goods within Nigeria in forex.

I explained how to do foreign transactions in Nigeria. You pay the naira equivalent of your fees into the bank and the bank pays the dollars or pounds to the receiving account through the school's correspondent bank abroad. It is so simple. But the lawlessness in Nigeria has led to historical abuses even by the CBN!

As to you handling naira in the UK, they don't care because it is a worthless currency within their country. But carry dollars, euros or pounds in excess and see if you won't be wearing prison uniform for a long time apart from forfeiting the money. If you are carrying more than $5,000 in cash through the airport, you are expected to declare it and explain thee source of the money. If you don't, say bye bye to it because it would be seized from you. Personal information, I moved a chunk of my own savings into my account in Germany. The bank blocked the account for a month to investigate me. I felt exposed!

For people who want to trade, there is something called Letters of Credit. They don't need physical cash or dorm account to process international transactions.

Do you know that government officials demand bribes in dollars? Do you recall former representative Farouk Lawan who was caught on camera collecting bribes from Femi Otedola in dollars? Do you also recall DCP abba Kyari? There was also a judge who demanded a bribe from Dino in USD!

Try change your circle and look at things with more intent. you'd be shocked that the rot in the system was perpetrated from the time we started doing unregulated BDCs. Mop up the dollars in people's hands and restrict access to them.

It has to stop.

I hope this is clear.

And for the future, try to desist from throwing insults at people. We all don't know everything. We can teach each other and point out to areas where our country can improve.

To have a country where things work, some brutal decisions must be taken, and fast too.

Nigeria cannot afford to fail.

emkz:


If we want a sane country, the government must take total control of the forex in the hands of people.

This your recommendation is a sure way to destroy ANY economy in any country.

Show us one industry or sector controlled by Nigerian government that is productive and satisfying the ordinary demands of the people who need that sector. None, zero. And you know it.

Good Luck to Nigerians.

emkz:


It is actually a crime. It is not a legal tender WITHIN Nigeria. You are not expected to use it to do any business transaction in Nigeria or charge anything and expect to be paid in dollars. The only places where you can use dollars are airports and hotels. Many hotels show their fees in dollars, euros, pounds and whatever, but you are compelled to pay in the local currency.

In a country like South Africa, if you bring dollar to pay for anything outside the airport, no one would collect it from you. You must convert it to the local rand. In Germany, if you bring out the dollar to transact anything, be sure the police will be looking for you because they'd assume you are a drug dealer.

The lack of confidence in the Naira is the problem and not its use.

By fighting the spending of dollar, you're only targeting the symptoms. It's like having malaria and you're taking onl6 paracetamol to take care of the headache. You'll get nowhere until you start treating the malaria carrying pathogens.

The Naira has lost half its value in less than 6 months. If you had N140,000 in August 2023 which about $200 then, it is now worth $100. Many rich people, especially importers quickly change their money to dollars left it loses value.

Some time back, some money came into the family joint account and my older sister instructed the money be immediately changed into dollars. That was in 2020 when the exchange rate had fallen to around N440 from 365 earlier in the year.

My rent which was N400k when I came here in 2020 was about $909 then. Now, it has been increased to 550k which is $350 today. You can now see why some ikoyi and Victoria Island landlords demand for their rent to be paid in dollars?.

Economists use the phrase "in real terms" a lot. As you can see from the rents, in real terms, the landlord has lost money despite an increase in my rent.

Money follows to very stable currencies. People with dollar, euro, Yen and Yuan holding have poured money into the Swiss Francs as its a currency that holds its value and even appreciates against the major currencies listed there.

The Swiss central bank even has to fight speculators who want to pour money into the Swiss Francs.

Stop all these mumu things...


Focus on productivity.

Let's start producing things.

Are you people sleeping since?

In America they don't spend naira as legal tender, it passes through banks only...here people spend dollars like it's legal tender, abokis doing bureau de change are not arrested, politicians use dollars as gifts etc.

grandstar:


The lack of confidence in the Naira is the problem and not its use.

By fighting the spending of dollar, you're only targeting the symptoms. It's like having malaria and you're taking onl6 paracetamol to take care of the headache. You'll get nowhere until you start treating the malaria carrying pathogens.

The Naira has lost half its value in less than 6 months. If you had N140,000 in August 2023 which about $200 then, it is now worth $100. Many rich people, especially importers quickly change their money to dollars left it loses value.

Some time back, some money came into the family joint account and my older sister instructed the money be immediately changed into dollars. That was in 2020 when the exchange rate had fallen to around N440 from 365 earlier in the year.

My rent which was N400k when I came here in 2020 was about $909 then. Now, it has been increased to 550k which is $350 today. You can now see why some ikoyi and Victoria Island landlords demand for their rent to be paid in dollars?.

Economists use the phrase "in real terms" a lot. As you can see from the rents, in real terms, the landlord has lost money despite an increase in my rent.

Money follows to very stable currencies. People with dollar, euro, Yen and Yuan holding have poured money into the Swiss Francs as its a currency that holds its value and even appreciates against the major currencies listed there.

The Swiss central bank even has to fight speculators who want to pour money into the Swiss Francs.

Can you spend naira in Swiss?

Symptoms is part of the problems, stop supporting nonsense...let the government fight both symptoms and main problem. This is one problem with Nigerians always confused don't know what they want...what is the point of your posts?


Government should allow illegal spending of foreign currency in Nigeria?

Spending dollars in Nigeria is definitely part of the problem, because we are exchanging dollars in place of naira to spend here, that means demanding more dollars, anytime there is a rush in demand for a product, it's value goes up. It's good for Nigeria to earn foreign currency, it should be with the financial institutions, to give to importers etc, not spending it in our country.

emkz:
This was my comment on this matter a few days back. The overt dollarization of the Nigerian economy is dangerous especially when we have no control over the currency.

Yes,even booking local flight and they will use their own rate to convert for you. So sad...

Johnjustice:

Can you spend naira in Swiss?

Symptoms is part of the problems, stop supporting nonsense...let the government fight both symptoms and main problem. This is one problem with Nigerians always confused don't know what they want...what is the point of your posts?


Government should allow illegal spending of foreign currency in Nigeria?

Spending dollars in Nigeria is definitely part of the problem, because we are exchanging dollars in place of naira to spend here, that means demanding more dollars, anytime there is a rush in demand for a product, it's value goes up. It's good for Nigeria to earn foreign currency, it should be with the financial institutions, to give to importers etc, not spending it in our country.

Yes, you could spend naira in Swiss. However, nobody will accept it because they don't trust the currency. Nobody in the world trusts the naira because it doesn't fulfill one or more of the basic functions of money.

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/economics/money-and-banking/functions-of-money

Money is often defined in terms of the three functions or services that it provides. Money serves as a medium of exchange, as a store of value, and as a unit of account.

Store of value : In order to be a medium of exchange, money must hold its value over time; that is, it must be a store of value.

@grandstar therefore made a very important point to illustrate why NOBODY trusts the naira, including Nigerians - the naira doesn't function well as a store of value.

Why is the naira not a good store of value? Because the government has engaged in arbitrary printing of the naira in a manner not consistent with Nigerian economic fundamentals. This massive increase in money supply, called M2, has depressed the value of naira, stoking inflation and eroding the ability of the currency to serve as a store of value.

What the government has done is resort to cheating - while it erodes the value of the naira with reckless printing of the currency, it uses the CBN to FORCE Nigerians and the world to accept a higher value for the naira. That's FRAUD and a fraudster can only get away with it for so long OR if the victims REMAIN stupid.

Good Luck to Nigerians.

Have a good day.

Johnjustice:

Can you spend naira in Swiss?

Symptoms is part of the problems, stop supporting nonsense...let the government fight both symptoms and main problem. This is one problem with Nigerians always confused don't know what they want...what is the point of your posts?


Government should allow illegal spending of foreign currency in Nigeria?

Spending dollars in Nigeria is definitely part of the problem, because we are exchanging dollars in place of naira to spend here, that means demanding more dollars, anytime there is a rush in demand for a product, it's value goes up. It's good for Nigeria to earn foreign currency, it should be with the financial institutions, to give to importers etc, not spending it in our country.

Oga
What I gave you is an educated response and not one sprung from the air.

Dollar is usually the preferred currency when it comes to the use of another country's currency in lieu of ones due to the fact that it is the world's reserve currency so it is easily convertible.

Rather than spend Naira in Switzerland, why not use Dollar or even Euros as they are easily convertible in Switzerland. There is no need to use Euros or Dollars in Switzerland as the Swiss have high confidence in the currency. Inflation is barely 3%.

However, some payments are still carried out in dollars. For instance, here are properties for sale priced in dollars.

https://www.properstar.com/switzerland/buy

Many countries that suffer from high inflation tend to have some degree of dollarisation whether it is Argentina, Venezuela or Turkey.This is pure fact.

The only thing people pay for in dollars rarely go beyond rent or property in Nigeria. In some countries, you have dollar shops. I doubt there are any dollar shops in Nigeria

If the central bank wants to discourage payment in dollars, it should defend the value of the Naira.