Findings have revealed that Nigerians in the diaspora are avoiding sending cash to Nigeria through the regular money transfer agencies in the country as they seek to take advantage of the wide gap between the official naira exchange rate and that of the parallel market.
While the official naira exchange rate to a dollar is N197 to a dollar, it is sold at about N370 to a dollar on the parallel market.
Nigerians that live abroad now prefer to send dollar cash and other foreign currencies to the country, so that the beneficiary would be able to convert it at the black market rate at higher value, THISDAY findings show.
With about $21 billion sent home by Nigerians in diaspora in 2015, the country was the sixth largest receiver of remittances in the world in 2015.
This was revealed by the Migration and Remittances Factbook 2016. The country was also by far the largest receiver of remittances in the continent, which was said to have received a total of $34.8 billion last year.
The report, which relied on data gathered from January to December 1, 2015, was compiled by the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development with support from the World Bank, German, Swedish and Swiss governments
