By Umar Muhammad Puma
The House of Representatives yesterday summoned the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele to appear before its Banking and Currency committee to provide “full brief on the suspension of the new requirements for operators of Bureau De Change (BDC) in the country”.
In a motion, titled: ‘Urgent need to halt recent increase in capital base for Bureau De Change’, moved by Rep Ibrahim Shehu Gusau (PDP, Zamfara), noted that the CBN has raised the minimum capital requirement for operation of BDCs in Nigeria from N10 million to N35 million.
He further noted that the mandatory cautionary deposit was equally reviewed from N3 million to N35 million, which shall be deposited in a non-interest yielding account in the CBN along with the licensing fee from N500,000 to N1 million, adding that the annual renewal fee was equally increased from N10,000 to N25,000, while the application fee of N100,000 remained unchanged.
Rep. Asita Honourable (APC, Rivers), while contributing to the debate, said “the policy is not only super-elitist; it is intended to create more unemployment in a section of the country. It is discriminatory. In fact, it’ll increase Boko Haram killings.”
Rep. Hassan Saleh (PDP, Benue) argued that by the policy, the new CBN management is insensitive of its responsibility as the country’s apex bank, which should help in reducing unemployment in Nigeria.
The motion was unanimously adopted by the House, and called on the CBN to suspend the new requirements for operators of BDCs in the country.
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