I’ll provide you with a list of 45 Items Banned by CBN for forex in this article. The ban on 41 Items was originally made public by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2015, which noted that it would promote domestic production and assist preserve foreign currency.
The import of the goods is not legally prohibited, but importers must get foreign exchange through other sources, such as the black market.
As a result, customers’ pockets are being squeezed by the high costs of the goods in markets.
Even though there were just 41 items on the list when it was first published in 2015, more have been added since then.
Despite this, there is still massive importation of some of these materials today. This has made Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, call for the arrest of all who are caught selling imported textiles, not to mention importers themselves.
The economic benefits of exportation far outweigh that of importation, no doubt. The Central Bank of Nigeria is, therefore, putting all its power to support exportation. The List of 45 Items Banned by CBN was therefore necessary.
CHECK: 9 MANDATORY DOCUMENTS NEEDED TO EXPORT GOODS FROM NIGERIA
List of 45 Items Banned by CBN
Below is the list of items in no particular order:
- Rice
- Cement
- Margarine
- Palm kernel/palm oil products/vegetable oils
- Meat and processed meat products
- Vegetables and processed vegetable products
- Poultry – chicken, eggs, turkey
- Private aeroplanes/jets
- Indian incense
- Tinned fish in sauce (geisha)/sardines
- Cold rolled steel sheets
- Galvanized steel sheets
- Roofing sheets
- Wheelbarrows
- Head pans
- Metal boxes and containers
- Enamelware
- Steel drums
- Steel pipes
- Wire rods (deformed and not deformed)
- Iron rods and reinforcing bars
- Wire mesh
- Steel nails
- Security and razor wire
- Wood particle boards and panels
- Wood fibre boards and panels
- Plywood boards and panels
- Wooden doors
- Furniture
- Toothpicks
- Glass and Glassware
- Kitchen utensils
- Tableware
- Tiles – vitrified and ceramic
- Textiles
- Woven fabrics
- Clothes
- Plastic and rubber products, polypropylene granules, cellophane wrappers
- Soap and cosmetics
- Tomatoes/tomato paste
- Eurobond/foreign currency bond/ share purchases
- Fertilizer
- Dairy/milk
- Maize
- Sugar
The government of Nigeria (GON) added milk and other dairy products to the original list of 41 items ineligible for foreign exchange imports in 2020. The government restricted the import of milk and dairy products to six dairy companies in a reversal of the same ban. It claimed that this was done to encourage backward integration. The following companies were approved:
- Integrated Dairies Limited
- TG Arla Dairy Products Limited
- Friesland Campina WAMCO Nigeria Limited
- Nestle Nigeria Plc. (MSK only)
- Promasidor Nigeria Limited
- Chi Limited
The GON has advised that by 2022 there will be a total ban on the importation of milk.
Three licensed companies;
- BUA Sugar Refinery Limited,
- Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, and
- Golden Sugar Company
are the only ones allowed to import sugar through authorized sources of foreign exchange as of July 2021, according to the GON.
CONCLUSION on the List of 45 Items Banned by CBN?
For the List of 45 Items Banned by CBN, the items are only restricted from access to FX. This simply means you may import it if you have the foreign capital to pay for it. Often time such an amount is gotten through the black market.
the custom list enumerates the items that cannot be imported no matter what. However, with special government permits, such items may be officially imported.
