By Suoyo Ekubo
“With those remittances, the dollars have come in, we know the dollars have come in but we don’t see them in the official system. So, they must be going somewhere and somewhere.
“And the challenge with the black market, unofficial market or parallel market or whatever name you want to call it, it is as a result that it is not regulated, and it becomes an easy place to have criminal activities.
“We investigate bankers, not just bankers, anybody who has committed an offence, the first thing they want to do is to run to the black markets, change it to the dollars because it is less money to carry around.
“Some of the funding in the black markets are actually from diaspora remittances. That’s why it important we need to know a lot of what’s going on there. We can’t play the sentiment game. If we don’t understand the dynamics, we usually go with the literature which does not necessarily work for us.”
“We have countries that earn about 1.5 million dollars in remittances. Everywhere, any place you go even in developed countries such as India, China among others.” Shonubi said.
Shonubi, stated this during his delivery of a Distinguished Personality lecture titled “Diaspora Remittances and Nigeria’s Economic Development” at the National Institute for Security Studies in Abuja.
His remarks came after reports indicated that the Naira had reached a historic low of N925/$1 on the parallel market, due to a higher demand for foreign currency compared to its supply. He concluded by urging collaboration to ensure that remittance flows are directed towards proper channels to benefit the economy effectively.
