THERE are indications that heads may roll soon in the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, over the directive to International Oil Companies, IOCs, to sell forex to only six importers of petroleum products from the IOCs’ forex pool put together by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, The Whistler has exclusively gathered. In a letter signed statement by the SA/Head, Financial Markets Department of the CBN, E.U. Ukeje, to the IOCs obtained by Nigerian Pilot, he directed the IOCs to “note that you are only permitted to sell your FX to the designated PMS importers by the NNPC or to the CBN at the ruling exchange interbank rate.” Investigation by Nigerian Pilot reveals that the ‘designated importers’ FX should be sold as directed by the CBN are Conoil Plc, Mobil Plc, MRS Oil Nig, Oando Plc, Northwest Petroleum, and Total Nig Plc. Curiously, the underhand directive contradicts the apex bank’s Revised Guidelines for the Operation of the Nigerian Inter-Bank Foreign Exchange Market of June 2016. Section 2.1 of the guidelines states that: “Participants in the inter-bank FX market shall include Authorised Dealers, Authorised Buyers, Oil
Companies, Oil Service Companies, Exporters, End-users and any other entity the CBN may designate from time to time.” Also, section 2.4.2 iii of the guidelines states: “There shall be no predetermined spread on FX Spot transactions executed through CBN intervention with the PXPDs.” A source familiar with the directive expressed fear that it could be counter-productive as the “favoured oil companies cannot handle all the petroleum products needs of the country,” stressing that “it was undermining the whole essence of accountability and transparency of the FX process. “It will be imperative for the NNPC and CBN to explain how they settled on the six oil majors to the exclusion of other independent marketers who make up …Read More
Source:: Nigerian Pilot
