By Adedapo Adesanya
The resumption of the weekly sale of forex to members of the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been applauded.
On Monday, September 7, the CBN auctioned forex worth $51.8 million to over 5,000 BDC operators in the country to help with demands of customers as international flights recommenced.
Speaking on this, the President of the Association, Mr Aminu Gwadabe explained in Lagos that working with the apex bank as seen in the past has yielded positive results, adding that it has helped the naira appreciate at the foreign exchange market and also maintain relative stability.
He said that the relevance of BDCs to the economy became a known phenomenon way back in 2008 when the nation began experiencing a crisis of liquidity.
He noted that in 2009 when a similar crisis happened following the global financial crisis, it took the collaborative efforts of the CBN and the BDCs to contain the free-fall in Naira exchange rate.
While commending the management of the CBN, especially its governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, for identifying with BDCs, he said similar efforts in the past had helped turn around any difficulty the naira faced.
He said, “With a sincere and deep appreciation to the management of the Central Bank, especially the governor, Godwin Emefiele, for identifying to collaborate with us as this has always turned around any difficulty the naira is facing on the economy.
“We believe that with our take-off on Monday, we are going to have more positivity.”
The ABCON President also charged the apex bank to increase financial tracking within the system, noting that this will help to check speculations in the forex market; a major reason for the volatility of the naira exchange rate.
Modupe Gbadeyanka