The Central Bank of Nigeria with the approval of the Presidency subsidized the dollar for Muslims partaking in the 2016 Hajj, mandating that the dollar be sold at N197 for those who needed it.
The circular went out on Thursday and hit major news outlets yesterday.
It was met with outrage with many believing it was a form of favoritism especially as yesterday, the Naira crashed to N400 to the dollar. The difficulty in obtaining forex has only increased the frustration of people in general.
The presidency has now come out to try to explain the situation saying that President Buhari had already approved the subsidy months before and prior to the new Forex regime.
This was said through the aide to the President, Garba Shehu, who took to his Twitter page to explain all this.
He also stressed that the subsidy was in no way discriminatory as the same subsidy was also extended to Christian pilgrims this year.
You can check out Garba Shehu’s tweets below.
