The founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Mr Atedo Peterside, has complained that only Dangote Industries Limited is allowed to move goods across the border amid the closure of the country’s land borders.

Nigeria’s land borders have been closed to its West African neighbours for more than a year as part of efforts to check the smuggling of contraband into the country.

Peterside said on Tuesday that legitimate exporters and importers should be allowed to move their goods across the borders.

“Allowing legitimate exporters and importers to move their goods across the border should be a no-brainer.

“Why refuse everybody else and allow only one company (Dangote)?

“This is why some of us argue that the Nigerian economy is rigged in favour of a handful of well-connected persons,” he said on his Twitter handle.

The value of the nation’s non-oil exports declined by 11.1 per cent to $320m in August on the back of the border closure, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has given some commercial banks instructions to allow betting and gaming companies suspended earlier in the month the approval to honour withdrawals from their accounts to pay for winnings, salaries and other overhead expenses.  

Nairametrics saw a copy of the letter addressed to one of the banks.

In one of the memos, the CBN wrote:

On Quote: â€œYou will recall at the meeting held by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) with your bank and stakeholders of seven (7) betting and gaming companies on September 11 2020, you pleaded for clemency processing some transactions in violation of the extant foreign exchange regulations. Similarly, the betting and gaming companies intreated the Governor to allow them discharge operational expenses.” 

The CBN therefore approved that cheque payments and transfers be made out of the accounts provided it was towards winnings, salaries and other overhead expenses. 

On quote: â€œConsequently, the Management of CBN has magnanimously granted your bank the approval to honour instruments presented by the companies for payment of winnings, salaries and other overhead expenses.” 

Despite the partial lifting on the ban, the CBN still maintained a “Post No Debit restriction on the account and ordered that “no other transactions should be processed for any of the companies during the period of the waiver” effectively restricting the owners of the companies from accessing to pay capital obligations.  

A copy of the letter is attached below; 

Abiola has spent about 14 years in journalism. His career has covered some top local print media like TELL Magazine, Broad Street Journal, The Point Newspaper. The Bloomberg MEI alumni has interviewed some of the most influential figures of the IMF, G-20 Summit, Pre-G20 Central Bank Governors and Finance Ministers, Critical Communication World Conference. The multiple award winner is variously trained in business and markets journalism at Lagos Business School, and Pan-Atlantic University.