Year 2012 Christian Pilgrimage Purchase of Pilgrims Travelling Allowance

CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA Corporate Head Office Central Business District P.M.B. 0187, Garki, Abuja, FCT 09 46237811 TRADE & EXCHANGE DEPARTMENT Tel .......

E-mail address:ted@cenbank.org TED/FEM/FPC/GEN/01/024 Fax:.

October 24, 2012 TO: All Authorised Dealers/General Public YEAR 2012 CHRISTIAN PILGRIMAGE PURCHASE OF PILGRIMS TRAVELLING ALLOWANCE The following details are notified for the information of all Authorised Dealers and the general public.

1. The Federal Government has approved the commencement of the 2012 Christian Pilgrimage operation from October 25, 2012.

2. The Government has also approved a concessionary exchange rate of $14.5.00 to the US Dollar for purchase of Pilgrims Travelling Allowance (PTA) of US$750.00 and US$1,000.00.

3. Each Pilgrim travelling to Israel is entitled to a maximum of US$750.00 (seven hundred and fifty US Dollars), while those going to Israel/Rome or Greece are entitled to a maximum of US$1,000.00 (one thousand US Dolars) as PTA.

4. Designated banks are required to sell the permissible amount of the PTA to intending pilgrims whose names and passport numbers are included in the pilgrims' master list.

5. No pilgrim should be denied the travel allowance on the ground that he/she has no Tax Clearance Certificate.

6. In view of the time constraint associated with pilgrimage exercise, the Chairman or the Secretary of each State Pilgrims' Board, after due identification, may be allowed to sign for and collect the PTA on behalf of the intending pilgrims in his/her State on presentation of the approved list and valid passports of the pilgrims listed against his/her state.

7. In accordance with the Israeli Government's Policy, visa shall only be issued to the pilgrims at the point of entry, that is, at Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv, Israel on arrival. It should also be noted that the pilgrimage will be by chartered flights.

8. Therefore, in view of paragraph 4 above, air ticket and visa requirements for the purpose of procuring the stipulated PTA have been waived. However, an endorsed copy of each pilgrim's passport should be retained by the bank for record purposes.

9. The designated banks are advised to contact the Director, Currency Operations Department, Central Bank of Nigeria, Abuja for details in respect of the purchase of the PTA to cover their sales to intending Christian pilgrims.

S/NO.	STATE		GREECE	ROME
		ISRAEL	TOTAL	BANK
I.	Cross River	78	78	UBN
2.	Ekiti	80	80	Zenith
3.	Kebbi	80	80	Sterling
4.	Kogi	154	e a	154	UBA
5.	Lagos	936	65	1001	Ecobank
6.	Nasarawa	116	116	Diamond
7.	Niger	351	351	Keystone
8.	Ogun	55	55	Skyc
g.	Ondo	103	103	Zenith
10.	()sun	250	250	UBA
ll.	Taraba	80	80	Zenith
12.	Kwara	215	215	UBA

10. The schedule below shows the FIRST BATCH of the States assigned to each of

the designated banks for the purposes of procuring the I'TA. The designated banks must render returns in respect of actual sales to the Director, Currency Operations Department, Central Bank of Nigeria, Abuja, within two (2) weeks from the end of the exercise.

It should be noted that infraction of any of the requirements or abuse of any waiver shall attract appropriate penalty.

wa BATARI MUSA DIRECTOR TRADE & EXCHANGE DEPARTMENT