…As He Stops Payment Of Charges To Nimasa, NPA In Forex
Warm pats on the back and cheery hugs are in order for major oil marketers especially those with various dealings with the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, and the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA.
Until recently, the practice was that these oil marketers paid to the government agencies in dollars and other foreign currencies sourced at exorbitant rates from parallel markets which staff of the agencies in turn sells to the CBN at lower rates. The deal had been ongoing for a long time but the marketers were helpless.
In a bid to therefore rescue them from this lingering anomaly and seeming helplessness, the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, has ordered that this practice be stopped forthwith. A letter signed by W.D Gotring, Director, Trade and Exchange Department of the CBN, and sighted by The Capitalng, states, “In the continued effort to improve foreign exchange availability in the Nigerian foreign exchange market and ameliorate challenges encountered by critical stakeholders, payment for port charges to the Nigerian Ports Authority, NIMASA e.t.c by oil marketing companies can now be accommodated by the Central Bank of Nigeria using ‘FORM A’.”
Therefore, the letter continues, authorised dealers are directed to accept the request for the payments of port charges from oil marketing companies and forward same to the CBN Foreign Exchange Window.
