The Senate has reportedly directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to make dollars available to intending hajj pilgrims at N200 per dollar, a report by The Guardian claimed.
Read also: Saudi gives intending Nigerian pilgrims conditions
The report said prior to this, an earlier directive to the CBN, directed the apex bank to provide the needed foreign exchange for N305 per dollar to intending pilgrims as against the current exchange rate in the black market of over N360 per a dollar.
Until the directive, it was only individuals and organisations in critical sectors of the economy that access dollar at N305.
However, the Senate considered that too high for Muslims undertaking pilgrims this year and proposed N200 per dollar for them, the report said.
It stated that by the lawmakers’ proposal of N200/$, government will be subsidising the entire exercise with N78.75 billion, if all of the 100,000 hajj slots approved by Saudi Arabia are utilised.
Even at N305 per dollar, the report claimed government will subsidise the exercise by N55 per dollar as the Business/Personal Travel Allowances are currently pegged at N360 per dollar, resulting in a total of N26.95 billion.
Recall that in 2016 at a time the market rate of a dollar to naira was about N300, intending pilgrims were offered a concession at N191 per a dollar. And following the controversy that greeted the concession, the federal government in its defence said the payment was made before the monetary policy switch.
