By Francis Ajuonuma, with agency report
In 10 years, Nigerians spent an estimated N$40bn on education and medical tourism, governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso has revealed.
Cardoso, who made the revelation while briefing members of the House of Representatives in Abuja yesterday, noted that the amount is an equivalent of Nigeria’s foreign reserve.
According to him, between 2010 and 2020, a total sum of $28.6bn was spent on foreign education, while another $11bn was spent on foreign medical trips.
Cardoso said the figures which summed to $40bn have contributed to the country’s foreign exchange crisis which has dragged the naira to depreciate to over N1,400 at the official market.
“Given this data, it is crucial to highlight that between 2010 and 2020, foreign educational expenses amounted to a substantial $28.65bn, as for the CBN publicly available balance of payment statistics.
“Similarly, medical treatment abroad has entered around $11bn in costs during the same period. Consequently, over the past decade, foreign exchange demand for education and healthcare has totalled nearly $40bn.
“Notably, this amount surpasses the total foreign exchange reserves of the CBN. Mitigating a significant portion of this demand could have resulted in a considerably stronger naira today,” Cardoso said.
*Pledges to tackle unauthorised withdrawals, policy saboteurs
On the continuous free fall of the naira, the apex pledged to deal decisively with any bank found sabotaging monetary policies or guilty of unauthorised withdrawals from customer accounts.
While noting that some departments in the CBN are being strengthened to carry out greater surveillance and oversight, Cardoso promised that the alleged indiscriminate charges and withdrawals from customers’ accounts shall be investigated upon reports and dealt with decisively.
“I want to assure you that I have no reluctance to wield the big stick, this is the time when people and entities that we regulate must comply, and we must do the right thing.
“We will stop at nothing in wielding the big stick or hammer in ensuring that they do the right thing for the benefit of Nigerians,” he said.
