Year 2011 Christian Pilgrimage Purchase of Pilgrims Travelling Allowance

CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA Corporate Head Office Central Business District P.M.B. 0187, Garki, Abuja, FCT TRADE & EXCHANGE DEPARTMENT Tel: ............. 09-46237804 Fax .................... 09 46237802 E-mail address:ted@cenbank.org November 4, 2011 TED/FEM/FPC/GEN/01/026 TO: ALL AUTHORISED DEALERS AND GENERAL PUBLIC YEAR 2011 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 commencement of the 2011 pilgrimage to Israel and Rome with effect from 50 November 2011.

The Government also approved the purchase of a maximum of US$750.00 and US$1,000 for pilgrims travelling to Isreal and Rome/Greece respectively, at a concessionary rate of N135.00 to a US Dollar as Personal Travelling Allowance (PTA) The approved schedule showing the states and the designated banks that will handle the sales of the PTA for the first batch of states is given below:

			NO. PILGRIMS	NO. PILGRIMS-		CHOICE OF
S/N	STATES	TOTAL	- ISRAEL	ROME		BANK
				388	KEY STONE
1	NIGER	401	13
2	LAGOS	1,200	1,200	NIL	OCEANIC
3	EKITI	178	178	NIL	ZENITH
4	OSUN	476	476	NIL	UBA
5	ONDO	302	289	13	ZENITH
6	OGUN	123	84	39	SKYE
				82
7	FCT	1,000	d18		FIDELITY

2. The designated banks are required to sell the permissible amount of the PTA in Travellers' Cheques to intending pilgrims, whose names and passport numbers are included in the pilgrims' master list.

3. No pilgrim should be denied the travel allowance on the ground that he/she has no Tax Clearance Certificate. 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 passports of the pilgrims listed against his state.

4. In accordance with the Israeli and Italian Governments' Policies, Visa shall only be issued to the pilgrims at the point of entry, that is, at Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv, Israel and Fumichino Airport, Rome, Italy, on arrival. It should be also noted that the pilgrimage will be by chartered flights.

5. 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.

6. The six (6) designated banks are advised to contact the Director, Banking & Payment System Department, Central Bank of Nigeria, Abuja for details in respect of the purchase of Travellers' Cheques to cover their sales to the intending Christian pilgrims.

The said banks must render returns in respect of actual sales to the Director, Banking & Payment System Department, Central Bank of Nigeria, Abuja, within two (2) weeks from the end of the exercise (i.e. from the date of the last departure flight from Israel/ Rome).

Finally, infractions of any requirement or abuse of any waiver shall attract the appropriate penalty.

W. D. GOTRING For DIRECTOF TRADE AND EXCHANGE DEPARTMENT 3