Following the intervention of Vice-President Kashim Shettima, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has finally agreed to approve cash payment of Basic Travel Allowance (BTA) of Nigerian intending pilgrims to this year’s Hajj in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The apex bank had initially directed banks to issue automated teller machine (ATM) cards containing the pilgrims BTA to them for their withdrawals and transactions during the pilgrimage in the holy land.
In a February, 2024 memo to authorised banks, signed by CBN’s Director Trade and Exchange, Hassan Mahmud, the apex bank directed that banks to stop payment of BTA and Personal Travel Allowance (PTA) in cash and adopt electronic transfers.
This, the bank noted, is to ensure stability and promote transparency.
“In line with the Bank’s commitment to ensure transparency and stability in the foreign exchange market and avoid foreign exchange malpractices, all Authorized Dealer banks shall henceforth effect payout of PTA/BTA through electronic channels only, including debit or credit cards.
“For the avoidance of doubt, payment of PTA/BTA by cash is no longer permitted,” the CBN’s memo read in part.
However, based on the Presidency’s intervention, the CBN on Wednesday approved request by intending pilgrims and other stakeholders to be granted cash transactions for this year’s Hajj exercise.
A press release, signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the Resident on Media and Communications, Office of the Vice-President, Stanley Nkwocha, obtained by Tribune Online on Thursday in Abuja, stated that the approval followed the intervention of Vice-President Shettina, who appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on behalf of the intending pilgrims through the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON).
According to the release, there had been concerns that the hitherto use of mandatory debit cards proposed by the CBN for the pilgrimage would endanger the smooth panning, operation and performance at this year’s Hajj.
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Nkwocha stated that NAHCON’s Commissioner for Policy, Personnel Management and Finance, Aliyu Abdulrazaq, confirmed to journalists after Tuesday’s meeting between the Vice-President and NAHCON management that CBN had granted Nigerian pilgrims the opportunity of cash transactions for this year’s Hajj.
“The meeting was prompted by the policy of the Federal Government on the card for Basic Travel Allowance (BTA) for 2025 Hajj operations.
“We held a series of meetings before now. The Vice-President intervened and invited the Central Bank’s Deputy Governor with a plea.
“Out of the magnanimity of the CBN and appeal made by the Vice-President, they dropped the idea of a card for pilgrims in the 2025 Hajj and they conceded to people having cash instead of a card.
“This is a landmark achievement for NAHCON,” Abdulrazaq was quoted to have said.
He added that, “If you go to Saudi Arabia, mostly the areas where pilgrims are going to perform their rituals, there is only one Automated Teller Machine there, and it is always crowded.
“It poses so much difficulties for pilgrims to purchase whatever they want to purchase.
The commissioner said that 95 percent of Nigerian pilgrims were peasant farmers who had difficulties with electronic payments, adding that, “even with cash, some of them have difficulties identifying the currencies.
“These variables make it important for them to have the cash they are used to.
“From now on, we are even more confident that the Hajj operations will be very seamless for the pilgrims.
“All arrangements have been in yo gear, but the BTA was out fear. Today, thefear has now been addressed.”
On his part, NAHCON Secretary, Dr Mustapha Muhammad Ali, clarified that the change is neither a concession nor a subsidy from the Federal Government.
According to him, “There is a need for clarification we want to make. It is not a concession or intervention by the Federal Government. It is not a subsidy either.
“The Vice-President intervened because most of the pilgrims make purchases on the streets of Mecca or Medina and they do not need debit cards to make their purchases.
“Now it is allowed for them to carry cash. The CBN will provide the cash at the market rate,” Dr Ali was quoted to have told journalists.
While explaining the CBN’s intervention, the Director, Human Resources at the apex bank, who is also NAHCON board member representing CBN, Abba Muhammad Aliyu, said the bank granted NAHCON’s request because the welfare of Nigerian pilgrims was of utmost interest to the Nigerian government.
“Looking at the financial literacy of the pilgrims, there is a need for us to see that we make life easy for them because a lot of them so not know how to operate the ATM.
“So, these are some of the reasons the senior management of the bank (CBN), in their own magnanimity upon the call of the Vice-President, looked at those issues,” he said.
Aliyu, however, clarified that the government was done with the concession issue, asserting that, “What is happening is purely a mode of payment method. Instead of asking the pilgrims to carry a card, they are only going to be aid through cash.”
NIGERIAN TRIBUNE