By Ashemiriogwa Emmanuel
The House of Representatives has faulted the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stop the sale of foreign exchange (forex) to the Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators.
According to the lawmakers, the new policy by the central bank, which took effect about two months ago, has caused further and unprecedented devaluation of the Naira, especially at the parallel market.
The action, the members of the lower chamber of the National Assembly posited, has also negatively affected the source of livelihood of the operators of BDCs and Nigerians in general.
Recall that on July 27, 2021, the Governor of the CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, while addressing reporters at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja, had announced the stoppage of forex sales to BDCs, alleging that they were being used to finance terrorism in the country.
At another MPC meeting held last Friday, Mr Emiefele maintained that the ban remains, stressing that it would not rescind its decision because it observed that terrorist financials buy forex at the black and put it into private jets to purchase weapons used to terrorise Nigerians.
He further said it was clamping down on a website that aggregates black market rates, AbokiFX, because it was allegedly manipulating the rates.
But the green chamber of the parliament disagrees with the CBN chief, stressing that he has not been able to substantiate his claims.
Reacting to a motion raised on Thursday by Mr Abubakar Makki Yallemen during the plenary, the House expressed concerns that up till now, Mr Emefiele has not given substantiated reasons for the decision as no single operator has been charged to court for any of these allegations.
The lower legislative arm of government faulted the new policy of the apex bank, emphasising that rather than solving the issue, it has only aggravated as the Naira was worsening against the Dollar and other foreign currencies in a manner never seen before.
The lawmakers argued that it was wrong for the CBN to suddenly announce the discontinuation of FX sales to BDCs without having talks with them.
They claimed that the BCDs have always kept to the terms and conditions of agreements between them and the apex bank while delivering quality services to clients.
At the plenary presided over by the Deputy Speaker of the House, Mr Ahmed Idris Wase, the Committee on Banking and Currency was mandated to dialogue with stakeholders in finding an acceptable and lasting solution to the devaluation of the Naira which might be reverting to the status quo policy.
