Bureaux de Change Association ABCON tasks CBN on Naira exchange value

Acting President, Association of Bureaux de Change of Nigeria, ABCON, Aminu Gwadabe

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has been charged to review the policy of dollar importation into the economy for the purpose of defending the naira...


The president of Association of Bureaux de Change Nigeria, ABCON, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, who made this charge, noted that the apex bank should rather introduce a policy whereby the naira is used to intervene in the real sectors of the economy in order to boost productivity.

Gwadabe speaking in Lagos said that the CBN should explore the option of promoting the use and acceptability of naira for transactions within the West African sub region.

According to him, ABCON have observed that this is already happening at the level of informal trading activities within the sub-region, and it is the association’s belief that this can be replicated at the level of formal economic activities.

He however, noted that ABCON have aligned itself with the stance of the President that there would be no further devaluation of the naira.”Off course we have always kicked against devaluation of the naira because we believe it creates more problem than it solves”, he added. “Depreciation of the naira affects the working capital of Bureaux de Change, BDCs, and by extension their turnover.

BDCs are able to do more business when the exchange rate is stable and relatively close to the official exchange rate “, he said. He said they buy dollars from the public and sell to the public. He stressed that their incomes come from the margin between the selling rate and buying rate. The ABCON boss therefore used the opportunity to dissociate BDCs from the sharp depreciation of the naira in the parallel market in recent times.

He said that there have been allegations that BDCs are behind the depreciation of the naira from N265 per dollar to near N400 per dollar. “This is far from the truth. Let me reiterate what we have stated before, an environment of uncertainty, unstable and sharp depreciation of the naira is bad for BDC business”, he stressed.

On the part of ABCON, he noted that as a way of enhancing transparency in the BDC subsector, the association has decided to introduce weekly foreign exchange rate band. This will serve as a guide to all BDCs and members of the public on the prevailing exchange rate across the country. The Rate Band will be operated in line with the regulated foreign exchange rate in the economy.

This is to forestall exploitation of foreign exchange end users, and also to ensure that end users are informed enough to avoid falling victims of exploitation. The Rate band will be announced via weekly press release that would be circulated to the media for publication.