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The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) has attributed the recent surge in diaspora remittances to the policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the renewed trust Nigerians abroad have in the financial system.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, announced on Monday, September 1, that diaspora remittances have tripled to $600 million monthly over the past two months, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
In a statement signed by the commission’s spokesperson, Abdur Rahman Balogun, Dabiri-Erewa commended CBN governor Olayemi Cardoso for implementing policies that have fueled this increase.
She highlighted that initiatives like the Non-Resident Bank Verification Number (BVN) and a competitive exchange rate have encouraged the use of formal channels for sending money.
Sharing the CBN governor’s optimism that the monthly figure could reach $1 billion by 2026,
Dabiri-Erewa stated that NiDCOM will continue its efforts to engage with the diaspora through various programs, including the Nigerian Diaspora Investment Summit (NDIS), National Diaspora Day, and the Diaspora Youth Summit (DYS).
In a speech at the Delta State Brazil Business and Investment Roundtable in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Olayemi Cardoso, the governor of the CBN announced that monthly diaspora remittances have tripled to $600 million due to the bank’s exchange rate reforms.
He also stated that the apex bank anticipates these inflows will reach at least $1 billion per month by the following year.
Cardoso informed the Nigerian government officials and investors in attendance that the nation’s exchange rate has become a lot more competitive, a development that has encouraged Nigerians abroad to use official channels for sending money home instead of unofficial ones.
Cardoso said, “When we started looking at diaspora flows as a potential source of diversifying our foreign exchange flows, people laughed, and we found that we started off at about $200 million every month.
“In the last two months, the last count, we had reached $600 million per month.
“And by next year, we anticipate we will be getting at least $1 billion from our diaspora folks at home.”
The CBN’s recent policy actions, which include the liberalization and unification of the foreign exchange market, have been aimed at creating a market-based price discovery system and attracting more foreign capital.
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