By: E. Geedahgar Garsuah, Sr.
MONROVIA: The President of the National Association of Foreign Exchange Bureaus of Liberia (NAFEBOL), Mr. Nimely Sayeh, has lauded the efforts of major players in the foreign exchange sector as it relates to their continuous support to the association aimed at ensuring a smooth regulation of foreign exchange activities across the country.
Mr. Sayeh made specific references to the Central Bank of Liberia, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and Orange GSM Mobil Company including several others banking institutions for collaborating with NAFEBOL, as the association makes tremendous success in regulating the foreign exchange commerce of Liberia.
The President of NAFEBOL did recognize the stakeholder’s efforts during program marking the official dedication of NAFEBOL’s National Headquarters, located at the corner of Broad and Johnson Streets in Central Monrovia.
Several commercial banking institutions including the Liberia Bank for Development and Investment (LBDI), Eco-Bank Liberia Limited, International Bank and SIB Bank were in attendance at the dedication of NAFEBOL’s new headquarters.
Access Bank, Afriland First Bank of Liberia, the United Bank of Africa (UBA) and City Trust Bank were also among local commercial banks that were in attendance of the NAFEBOL new headquarters dedication ceremony.
Mr. Sayeh applauded the CBL for longstanding partnership with NAFEBOL, which he said, led to series of initiatives including training geared toward strengthening NAFEBOL’s capacity to adequately regulate foreign exchange in Liberia.
Mr. Sayeh, in similar manner, extended thanks appreciation to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the leadership of Edwin Harris as Director General. He applauded the FIU Team for the numerous training initiatives on Anti-Money Laundering (AML) in Liberia.
The NAFEBOL President expressed gratitude to the Orange GSM Mobil Money for the five years strategic partnership involving the two entities.
The partnership, under the Title: “All for Orange” is intended to ensure that both parties collaborate in the foreign exchange sector of the country.
Cataloging several achievements under his presidency since in 2020, Mr. Sayeh named the introduction of bio-metric Identification Card (ID) system for its members, the decentralization of NAFEBOL activities across the fifteen political sub-divisions of the country, the training of members in financial management and reporting including Book-keeping, Anti-Money Laundering.
Mr. Sayeh mentioned NAFEBOL partnership with SIB Bank, formerly GN Bank Liberia Limited, for the promotion of digital financial inclusion platform styled: “GN Money.”
According to Mr. Sayeh, plans are underway to establish central foreign exchange bureau at various border points and capitals of counties across the country.
“We are working with our county chapter leaderships to build central bureaus at strategic border points and capital cities in Liberia,” Mr. Sayeh stated.
For his part, Mr. Abdullai Morley, CBL’s Assistant Director for Supervision and Regulation, serving as proxy speaker for CBL Executive Governor, J. Aloysius Tarlue, commended NAFEBOL for securing a national headquarters and pledged CBL’s continuous support to the organization.
He said the decision for the association to get its own headquarters has added more value to its operations.
According to Mr. Morley, the CBL is prepared to assist the association in whatever way possible, for the growth of the organization.
Also representing FIU Director General, Edwin Harris, FIU Outreach Officer, Mr. Groba Williams, pledged FIU’s commitment to continuously initiate capacity building training programs for NAFEBOL members aimed at detecting the flow of illicit money in the economy.
Speaking on behalf of Orange Money, Mr. Fabian Ochanda, B2B Manager, expressed gladness in the five-year strategic partnership agreement between two entities.
According to Mr. Ochanda, Orange Money will ensure its portion of the five-year agreement is carried out for sustainable cordial relationship with NAFEBOL.
Aimed at capacitating NAFEBOL in its operations, Orange Money has presented five motorbikes, five Desktop Computers and five office desks to the association.
Meanwhile, Mr. Nimely Sayeh has launched a passionate appeal to other stakeholders within the foreign exchange sector to buttress Orange GSM gesture to help NAFEBOL unleash its full potential.
Nimely said: “As you can see, despite the support that Orange Money has provided us as I indicated earlier, we are still challenged; other than this conference room and the President’s office that have ACs, the other offices are without AC, something which makes working conditions difficult and uncomfortable for our staff, especially when they have to work under heat and noise.”
“Similarly, we are all aware of the electricity situation in Liberia. We are opting for a 6.6KVA silence generator to aid our work. We need support in all of these areas and we are looking forward to all of you especially Orange Money that has already started doing so much,” Mr. Nimely Sayeh stressed.
