After a 24-hour strike, Bureau De Change operators across the country have resumed normal business activities, even as the naira gained in the parallel market.
Checks by our reporter indicated that the US dollar slumped from N1,520/$1 it traded on Wednesday to N1,350/$1on Friday in Abuja.
At the popular zone 4 BDC hub in Abuja, shops that were hitherto locked were open.
Dahab Yunus, a currency trader, insisted on selling his Naira for 1,350 per dollar, stating that the currency had dropped since Thursday’s shutdown and that they anticipated a further reduction in the days ahead.
He said, “I may be losing money if I buy at any rate above 1,350. Thank us the highest I can pay for a dollar at the moment. Before the end of today, we anticipate that the price of dollars will continue to decline. even in pounds.
“You know that that yesterday we were on strike. Even now the security operatives have instructed us to close at 5pm. EFFCC are bothering us.
For now we will continue to close by 5pm until they give us a full other to resume our full schedule.
Yunus added that; “They even arrested some people who were caught trading here yesterday and they had to bail themselves with more than hundred thousand Naira”
Similarly, Abdul Muhammad, another dealer who said the cost of the dollar was 1,300 per Naira, claimed that the Naira’s value had increased and the dollar declined, due to the shutdown of their activities on Thursday.
When asked if he believed the downturn would be sustainable, he replied. “I’m not sure. However, we hope that doller’s price will keep falling. We decided to go on strike because we are also unhappy with how prices are going up. We also wish for improved economic conditions.”
Isah Lawal who agreed to buy a dollar at the rate of 1,400 (the highest so far) tried to persuade our reporter to immediately sell hers or risk losing money.
According him, “You should sell now because the price will drop again tomorrow and you will lose money
“If you came here yesterday you would have noticed that we didn’t come out to trade. The government is trying to see how they can strengthen the Naira and they believe we are the problem. We resumed because some of our leaders had to discuss and reach some sort of agreement with them.”
On Thursday, Bureau De Change operators (BDCs) in Abuja got a rude shock as security operatives swooped on them in a sting operation designed to arrest the free fall of the naira, believed to be fuelled by the antics of currency speculators.
The security agencies, working in cahoots with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), quizzed the BDCs’ top shots.
When Daily Sun got to the zone 4 area of Abuja, the hub of black market foreign exchange, the place was somewhat deserted as most of the dealers stayed away claiming to have run out of forex to trade with.
Some of them said they were in solidarity with their leaders who are protesting a spike in dollar price and the rapid tumbling of the naira.
Major areas for forex trade like the Zone 4 Plaza, Musawa Plaza, Bulama House, Fabdal Plaza and Baura House were shut on Thursday.
Some of the BDC operators opposite the Abuja Continental Hotel said with the sting operation by security operatives, they had been forced to stop selling forex at the parallel market until the price crashes considerably.
The shutdown, Daily Sun learnt, was to last 24 hours as normal activities are expected to resume on Friday if the market responds positively to the action.
The move by the association and security operatives feeds into an effort to boost the value of the naira.
Naira rose to N1,520 at the BDC segment on Wednesday.
At the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market, the naira fell around N1,480, from the N900 which it was in December, 2023.
Some frustrated dealers are blaming online banking transactions and cryptocurrency as causative factors mopping up forex and leaving them with the shorter end of the stick.
BDC operators in Port Harcourt, Lagos and Kano also shutdown over the foreign exchange crisis.
Some finance analysts suspect that the weakness of the naira at the official market price was deliberate, mainly to close the gap between official and black market rates and ultimately tame arbitrage.
However, there are concerns that the strategy is not sustainable because there is too much money in the system and held by a few, including the banks.
Last week, the CBN Governor, Dr Yemi Cardoso, at the 2024 macroeconomic outlook launch hosted by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), said that the naira is currently undervalued and would be made to be at its real level soon.
The CBN Governor said the monetary and fiscal wings of the country were deepening collaboration to administer policies and interventions that will accelerate genuine price discovery in the near term and also boost the economy.
He said CBN has reverted to the conventional monetary policy approach with a focus on achieving price stability, which fosters sustainable economic growth.
This comes as experts diagnose the ailing Nigerian economy and proffer solutions, including plugging leakages, tackling insecurity and injecting sufficient foreign exchange to lubricate the economy.
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