That really does not make sense, in terms of the currency controls and what the CBN is trying to achieve – but banks are like that, and also they move in flock like sheep. However, because it’s not what the CBN wants, it is possible that eventually it may get sorted out. Or not.
Yeah, I think a lot of the problem is caused by the chaos arising from the announcements, and there being generally not a lot of quality information published out to institutions affected, so they’re reacting to what they think is happening, rather than what’s actually happening.
Welp. That failed. I imagine because his bank does not permit the debit card to add funds to the account (except in case of a refund probably)
Could you open another bank account with money just for him and send him your bank card so he can withdraw cash.
Works for me whenever I travel.
That was my thought too. In many less-developed countries with poor banking systems cell phones are used for money storage and transfer. Developing Countries' Mobile Money Boom
Googling, WhatsApp has a money transfer option and it’s widely used in the third world.
Apparently it’s only available in Brazil
Hey Mangetout, how much did Babatunde pay for his charcoal oven? I looked them up online, and I saw machines that were geared for the first-world hobbyist ($100 and up), and not for the type of people who need them to survive.
He paid 16k Naira (which is about $40) - the oven appears to be made from an aluminium storage box - maybe military surplus or something
@Mangetout I watched your collab with Babatunde yesterday and it reminded me of this thread. Did you ever get this situation sorted out?
I can send bitcoin via CoinBase. I think officially this is frowned upon by the Central Bank of Nigeria, but it’s a method that at least works in practice.
There’s still no easy, officially-legal way to securely transfer money from abroad to honest individuals in Nigeria, unless they have a separate USD or GBP account in which to receive it. Incidentally, this is why all of the scammers there have switched to asking for payment via Steam Wallet or Google Play gift cards (which they can resell for cash somehow).
Maybe a stupid question, but… What happens if you open a bank account here, get a debit card, and send it to someone overseas?
The only problem I had was in Egypt, where the ATM mag-stripe readers would not honour my card, but a Chip-and_pin reader would. (Obviously mag stripe too easy to fake). Worked in Egypt, Jordan, Tanzania, India, Dubai, etc. not to mention all over Europe. I presume there would be legal implications and the bank might get touchy if they notice, but it should work. Back in the day, it was important to tell the bank you might be travelling so they didn’t wonder about foreign access. Same might work for a credit card but a debit card would be limited to cash on hand.
Is there any reason why you can’t put some notes (bills) in a jiffy bag and post cash to him?
Are you kidding? The banknotes go between the leaves of a book. I suppose you could then jiffy-bag the book.
It’s a coin toss whether it gets there at all. I’ve tried sending parcels with gifts and books in them and they just went missing. Even when I sent it with end to end tracking, it went missing and the tracking documentation said ‘destroyed at the request of the sender’.
I don’t imagine the postal workers or customs inspectors are that well paid in third world countries. Helping yourself is likely a perk of the job. Even in Toronto International Airport, apparently lightening luggage was a perk some baggage handlers indulged in. If you work there and find something nice in an envelope, I assume it’s easy to simply check off the tracking slip with “destroyed by request”. If you can think of a clever way to hide something in a parcel, I’m sure the collective postal/customs workers have heard or seen that trick, especially something as simple as hding cash in a book.