By Dipo Olowookere
President Muhammadu Buhari has been commended for retaining Mr Godwin Emefiele as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for another 5-year term.
Making this commendation was the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON).
In a statement issued on Friday, President of ABCON, Mr Aminu Gwadabe, pointed out that the reappointment of Mr Emefiele will sustain stability in the foreign exchange market.
“The reappointment of Mr Godwin Emefiele is a good foundation to continuous foreign exchange market stability.
“The ABCON Executives and entire members nationwide congratulate the CBN Governor on his reappointment,” Mr Gwadabe said.
The ABCON chief noted that Mr Emefiele had excelled in many ways which included uniform exchange rates in the market, elimination of exchange rate volatility and the deepening of the foreign exchange market, with the introduction of multiple FX windows.
Other achievements by Mr Emefiele included the diversification of the foreign exchange inflows through enhanced investors’ confidence/Diaspora remittances, reduction on the import dependence of the economy through several agricultural borrowers’ schemes and a ban on 42 items that could be readily produced in Nigeria.
The president added that the CBN chief was instrumental in formalising the informal retail foreign exchange market.
While congratulating the CBN boss for his achievements, Mr Gwadabe stressed that ABCON expects the CBN governor to be as proactive as ever through robust engagements.
“We expect a continuous stakeholder’s engagement and the empowerment of BDCs for global best practices.
“We also expect a downward review of associated regulatory fees paid by BDCs and the upward review of the margin of BDC transactions.
“Ease of documentation requirements and the enhancement of ABCON’s self-regulatory status as recommended by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations for industrial trade unions,” he said.
Adedapo Adesanya