The Senate has quashed a bill seeking to repeal the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provision) Act, 2004, (which is already a function of the Central Bank of Nigeria) and establish a Foreign Exchange Market in Nigeria.

The bill, read for the first time in February 2024 and sponsored by Senator Mohammed Sani representing Niger East, aims to make provisions for the control, monitoring and supervision of transactions conducted in the Foreign Exchange Market.

In his lead debate, Musa noted that the bill is not seeking to establish any agency or commission that may require funding by the government.

The bill, when passed into law, is expected to contribute to sound development of the nation’s economy, facilitate foreign transactions as well as stabilise the value of the naira by ensuring the liberalisation of foreign transactions.

Clause 6 of the bill introduces New Sub-clauses (2), (4) and (5) which require authorised dealers to render returns to the CBN on sources of foreign exchange in excess of 10,000 US dollars, utilisation of same, and obtain prior approval of the CBN when seeking to import foreign currency notes.

As some lawmakers gave their backing to the bill, some others called for further scrutiny of the inherent provisions, some have described as confusing.

Senators expressed fears over the immediate effect the passage of the bill into second reading will have on the forex market and the concomitant pressure on the naira.

When put to a voice vote, the bill was quashed.