President Buhari says the Federal government will henceforth not be making provisions of foreign exchange allocation for Nigerians schooling abroad or those seeking medical treatment overseas. This position is contrary to that of the CBN which had stated in a communique last month that it had not banned the allocation of foreign exchange for education and medical bills.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) wishes to clarify to the general public that it has not stopped the allocation and sale of foreign exchange for purposes of paying school fees and settlement of medical bills overseas,” Ibrahim Mu’azu, the apex bank’s Director of Corporate Communications, said.
However in a recent interview with AlJazeera, Buhari overruled the CBN, insisting that it will henceforth, not be making such provisions as Nigeria’s present economic state can’t afford it.
“We can’t just afford it. That is just the true situation,”he said.
During the interview, Buhari also said those who were making monetary gains through trading with the dollar would be pursued and punished.
“Anybody who was given dollars by the CBN to import pharmaceuticals and decided to sell at parallel market in order to make maybe additional N100, we will pursue them and punish them,” he said
Many Nigerians schooling and receiving medical attention abroad have been complaining as the CBN has stopped the allocation of foreign exchange to them, since they could not access Form A. They say it is inhuman for the CBN and the federal government to expect them to source for foreign exchange at the parallel market.
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