GOVERNOR, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, said in Tokyo on Sunday that the bank would soon stop selling cash to bureaux de change.

He said, “Seventy per cent of the dollars that people buy from bureaux de change are not for transactions outside Nigeria. They move dollars from one part of the country to the other, in fact, from one part of Abuja to another part.

“In a briefcase, you can carry $100,000, that’s N50m.”

Sanusi also said, “We are coming up with policies; we are going to stop selling cash to BDC and credit their accounts.

“If you want to pay for medical bills abroad, you give a hospital account; if you want to pay school fees, do transfer like everybody else. If you want to travel, do a travellers cheque or get money on your card.’’

He said that at the moment, the dollar was becoming Nigeria’s second national currency, becoming a source of worry to the apex bank and even to President Goodluck Jonathan.

Sanusi noted that part of the reasons why the bank moved to restructure the naira was to tackle the genuine need of high net-worth cash users.

Source: Punch