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The Central Bank of Nigeria has suspended nine banks from accessing the interbank foreign exchange market for failing to remit to the Treasury Single Account about $2.334 billion belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)/Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Company, according to reports on Tuesday.

The suspension comes two months after the apex bank re-introduced the interbank forex market in a bid to ease Nigeria’s lingering forex scarcity. The apex said the suspension will remain in force until the banks remit all government funds to the TSA.

Since the launch of the interbank forex market, the CBN has been the main provider of liquidity to the market. Last month, the apex bank settled $1.2 billion in one-month forward contracts sold in June, draining its reserves. On a year-to-date basis, the CBN forex reserves has fallen by 11.3 percent and closed $25.71 billion as at August 19th.

The nine affected banks are: First Bank of Nigeria ($469 million); Diamond Bank ($287 million); Sterling Bank ($269 million); Skye Bank ($221 million); Fidelity Bank ($209 million); United Bank for Africa ($530 million); Keystone Bank ($139 million); First City Monument Bank ($125 million); and Heritage Bank ($85 million).

Last year, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered all federal government ministries, departments, and agencies to remit all government funds in Nigerian banks to the Treasury Single Account domiciled at the CBN.

In a note to customers on Wednesday, Diamond Bank said it had always made full disclosure of outstanding TSA funds and will continue to remit all funds “under these challenging market conditions.”

“We are engaging with relevant stakeholders, with the support of the Regulator, to resolve this industry-wide issue quickly. We understand the importance of helping our customers to find foreign exchange to help promote economic growth in Nigeria,” Diamond Bank said.