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…apex bank failed to adequately monitor us
…insist ban will further make Naira to slide beyond N600
…alleged that most staff of CBN run BDCs
By Emman Ovuakporie
Some Bureau de Change, (BDC) operators on Tuesday said the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) directive to ban their operations is primarily designed to further enrich commercial banks.
TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) reports the new development which has thrown operators into a panic mode did not actually come as a surprise because they had first hand information that CBN was going to strike them.
Some of the operators who spoke to TNG under the condition of anonymity said though the CBN action did not come as a surprise “because some of us were aware.
TNG recalls that on Tuesday afternoon, the regulator of the sector in Nigeria announced an end to weekly allocation and sale of foreign exchange to BDCs currently at $110 million per week.
Commercial banks are to begin sales of forex to individuals with genuine need.
One of the operators in Lagos mainland maintained that”what they do not know is that this action will further make the Naira slide beyond N600 in the next one month.
“Nobody should blame us because the regulatory bank failed to adequately monitor as there are some bad eggs among us but that’s not the issue.
“The real issue is that this ban is primarily designed to further enrich the commercial banks that are the biggest beneficiaries.
“All they ought to do from the onset is to give a directive that hoarders of dollars will not get the weekly $10k they allocate and ensure some of us are actually denied.
“If they had done this, the naira will definitely shore up but with this blanket ban, wait and see what will happen in the next month if the Naira will not further nose dive from where it is now.
“Immediately the announcement was made the Naira hit N505 to the dollar and if care is not taken it will continue to slide.
“The dollar is massively hoarded because in the last four years it has been gaining ground against the Naira so people hoard because the increase has remained constant.
Another operator on the island too spoke in a similar vein heaping all the blames on the doorstep of CBN.
He said”we’ll continue to hail former CBN governor, Sanusi Lamido because in his time he tried as much he could to stabilize the naira and that’s why every now and then when we had a parliament they summon him.
” Now that we know that the Nigerian parliament is an extension of Buhari’s cabinet nothing happens because there’s no check and balance any longer.
“It’s a sad commentary if this trend continues in the next four years as this ban can never give the naira the succour to survive against the dollar.
“Protocols in commercial banks will further frustrate Nigerians as our services may not be readily available except for a few of us who had first hand information and bought enough dollars to make a kill from this CBN directive.
“Most CBN staff that we know run BDCs too to make ends meet and they enjoy same allocation except for those in category A who get as much as $1m.