The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has ordered all of the country's authorised foreign exchange dealers to submit information and data on letters of credit (L/Cs) used to import petroleum products over a five-year period.

The CBN order is marked urgent and appears to be associated with suspected irregularities in L/Cs used specifically during the importation of petroleum products.

March deadline

The order requests information and data on import L/Cs used for petroleum products brought into Nigeria between 2006 and 2011.

All of Nigeria's foreign exchange dealers must submit the data and information in both electronic form and hard copy during March.

Possible irregularities

Irregularities regarding import L/Cs for petroleum products have included over-invoicing scams or ghost transactions.

These respectively involve shipments that fall short of the amount of product specified on the L/C documentation or consignments that simply never arrive.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or any of the other partners in DC-PRO.