ASHENEWS reports that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has begun an investigation into $347 billion forex allegedly allocated to local and foreign companies in Nigeria between January 2014 and June 2023.
The data, contained in the sectoral utilization of the CBN’s forex data, show that the companies received at least, $347.49 billion from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to service their foreign exchange (FOREX) needs and obligations within the 10 years.
The sectoral utilization of foreign exchange also reveals how foreign exchange is allocated and used across different sectors or industries of the economy
The fresh findings show that the EFCC has extended its forex allocation probe to include some foreign firms operating in Nigeria, which development came against the backdrop of the agency’s probe of forex allocations to Dangote Group and 51 other companies under the immediate past Governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele.
The breakdown
A breakdown of the allocation per year showed that the bank disbursed $65.99 billion in 2014, $44.6 billion in 2015, $25.5 billion in 2016, $27.64 billion in 2017, $40.81 billion in 2018, $43.99 billion in 2019, $28.24 billion in 2020, $16.4 billion between January 2021 and September 2021.
Also, $17.38 billion was disbursed between October 2021 and March 2022, while $36.88 billion was given between April 2022 and June 2023.
Under the imports category, the industrial sector got the most forex allocation, with $69.71 billion in the period being reported. Others include food products ($24.88 billion), manufactured products ($32.73 billion), transport sector ($6.67 billion), agricultural sector ($2.83 billion), minerals (2.88 billion), and oil sector ($37.46 billion).
The EFCC may have started investigating some foreign firms for import and export violations. Some of the foreign firms currently under its radar are Crane Currency Limited, Gleseck+Deverint GmbH, De La Rue Ltd, Oberthur Fiduclaire SAS, and Orelll Fussli.
This was contained in an internal memo of the anti-graft agency, which was signed by the Director of Operations, Hadiza Junaidu, and titled ‘Request for Information,’ and with reference number CB:4000/EFCC/DOPS/VOL.28/104, and dated December 21, 2023.
The memo read in part, “I am directed to request that you check the records of cases referred to your respective commands/sections for investigation and confirm whether the under-mentioned foreign companies has/is being investigated for import/export violations or any other offense.
“i. Crane Currency Limited ii. Gleseck+Deverint GmbH iii. De La Rue Ltd iv. Oberthur Fiduciaire SAS v. Orelll Fussli”
While directing its recipients to act “urgently” on the memo, the EFCC director listed the distribution list to include zonal commanders and heads of operations.
