THE Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has again warned economic saboteurs who are speculating and hoarding the naira to desist from such actions amid the recent naira depreciation.
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ABCON has raised several concerns about naira speculation and hoarding. It accused Binance, a borderless foreign exchange trade platform, of significantly influencing Nigeria’s currency market and determining its direction.
The reactions that followed the accusation were Binance’s suspension of its trading platform to Nigerians, the government slam of $10 billion compensation on the platform, and the subsequent arrest of two of its senior executives who are currently being tried in court.
The move saw the naira, which lost value to over N1,900 against the dollar, appreciate to about N1,000 after the clampdown. Still, the naira has returned to depreciating against the dollar in recent weeks.
In the just-concluded week, the naira depreciated against the dollar after opening at N1,169.99 at the official window on Monday, April 22, and closing at N1,339.23 on Friday, April 26. At the parallel (black) market, the naira also slightly depreciated against the dollar when it closed at N1,290 on Friday from N1,245 on Monday.
In a statement on Friday, April 26, ABCON president Aminu Gwadabe expressed hope that the association would establish a unified retail-end forex market to tackle volatility and boost regulatory compliance among Bureau De Change (BDC) operators.
The strategic plan meant to unify operators from different cadres of the market would include the inauguration of state chapters for market coordination to ensure integration and administration of a united market structure in the BDC sub-sector.
He said ABCON would deploy technology to help fight the sabotage of CBN’s reforms.
Gwadabe said the new blueprint for a united retail end forex market structure would ensure the deployment of a centralised, democratised, and liberalised online real-time trading platform.
“Finally, we also condemned in its entirety the seemingly reappearance of illegal economic behaviours in forex conversion and P2P (person-to-person) trading that poses another recent surprises in naira volatility.
“I therefore want to warn that while surprises are the new normal, resilience is also the new skill.”
The ABCON boss expressed confidence in the efforts of the Central Bank and relevant security agencies to adopt measures to deal with any saboteurs and retain successes recorded on naira appreciation.
“It is, therefore, in our own interest to desist from hoarding and speculation as it is a bubble and will burst in no distance time,” he said.
He hinted that ABCON would extend its automation policies and platforms to all BDC operators across Nigeria markets and upgrade its Business Process Platform, formerly SAAZ Master.
Gwadabe also said the association would sustain its engagement with regulatory agencies, security operatives, and other government apparatus to entrench a secure and thriving forex market supporting regulation and government.
“Part of our vision for a united retail-end forex market include activating geo=mapping and automated BDCs physical office verification exercise using the remote gravity physical verification apps.
“This will enable forex buyers to easily locate where BDCs offices are for effective and seamless transactions,” he said.
Gwadabe continued that the vision for a united retail-end forex market would help provide market intelligence reports, enhance the local and global image of BDCs and other stakeholders and market operators, and boost employment generation.
He noted that it would also create a well-structured, transparent, and competitive platform to combat the menace of unlicensed platforms like Binance, Aboki FX, and ByBit.
Recall that ABCON’s primary goal is to ensure forex availability to the critical retail end of the forex market and bridge the gap between the official and parallel market exchange rates.
Since assuming office last year, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, has repeatedly said the apex bank was pursuing true price discovery for the naira.
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