The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says receiving international money transfers in foreign currencies by Nigerians is detrimental to the Naira.
Ms Ozemena Nnaji, Director, Trade and Exchange in the apex bank, told the House of Representatives Committees on Diaspora, Banking and Currency, and National Planning at an investigative hearing on Thursday in Abuja.
The three committees are investigating Diaspora remittances between January 2016 and December 2019.
“We have a policy on spending Naira in Nigeria and not dollar because of what that does; it affects the value of our currency when we start spending foreign currency in Nigeria.
“That is why we say that money that comes in as dollars or Euros should be exchanged and given to the customers in the currency of our country,” she said.
Nnaji explained that the policy was out to promote a strong currency in Nigeria and to favorably manage exchange rate stability.
“If dollar and euro are everywhere, what happens to our currency, the Naira now is not an internationally accepted currency, if we dilute it, it will have consequences.
“We want our Naira to be acceptable by other West African countries; we want it to be internationally accepted currency.
