FX SHORTAGE, FORM PROCESSING OF 2023 SCHOOL FEES MAY BE HAMPERED BY A BACKLOG

Further indications are that some students may have to surrender their enrollment as a result of the current difficulties occurring with the persistent foreign exchange (FX) shortage and the backlog of form-A applications at various commercial banks.

This comes after Nigerian banks disclosed a biannual drop in the dollar amount that clients could use for personal travel allowance (PTA) and business travel allowance (BTA).

The new directive states that the PTA, which is now available to consumers, will be reduced by 50%, from $4,000 to $2,000, and the BTA, from $5,000 to $2,000, by 60%. The banks also changed the FX policy significantly by extending the processing period for foreign exchange (FX) for overseas school fees processed through Form A from 48 hours to 120 days in a number of emails addressed to its customers.

Form A is an application form created to pay for service transactions (invisible trade), which enable customers to pay for services like school fees, technical fees, dividends, airline tickets, loan payback, judgment debt, personal home remittance, PTA, and BTA, among others.

Additionally, the program enables students to pay for their international tuition through CBN at the official foreign exchange rate rather than the highly inflated black-market rate.

Even though some Nigerians have praised the revised policy, parents and students have expressed their unhappiness and asked the Federal Government and the CBN to expedite the process of paying tuition for Nigerians studying in the United Kingdom and other nations.

Nigeria, like many other nations, has been struggling with a lack of foreign currency as a result of a downturn in its primary product, oil. The Naira's value as well as the nation's foreign exchange reserves have been under pressure.

Several of us (Nigerian students) have been embarrassed and humiliated by the acts and inactions of our Nigerian banks as a result of the way the Form A payment application is being used, according to Ekezie Veronica, a student in Northampton who talked to Daily Sun. I had submitted a form A application since last year, and it took more than 3 months for it to be approved. The school threatened to expel me, so I had to borrow money from friends here to pay the remaining expenses.

I read the most recent rules and am now even sorry for my friend who also wants to attend this institution. She is scheduled to return in September 2023, but her fees must be paid by May. How is she going to make the payment so quickly？ Money does not just magically appear. It is past time for all parties involved to band together to permanently end this threat. “We cannot just abandon folks who applied first for someone who applied yesterday,” he said, adding that “the truth is that we have multiple backlogs of Form A applications.” As a result, despite having stated that the application process would be first come and first served.