BREAKING: Operators Flee As Soldiers Storm Bureau De Change Centres Amid Naira Depreciation
Soldiers were on Friday stationed around Bureau De Change (BDC) offices in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.
It was observed that some of the traders abandoned their offices for fear of being arrested.
As part of its ongoing clampdown on BDCs, some BDC operators have been arrested in Abuja, Oyo and Lagos following the depreciation of the naira against the United States dollars.
A trader who spoke on a condition of anonymity said they deserted their offices because they got wind that security authorities were on their way to arrest them as is being done in some parts of the country.
“We are operating ‘codedly’ (covertly). We are not the ones causing the value of the naira to depreciate or that of the dollar to appreciate. The Central Bank of Nigeria knows where the problems are if they really want to solve the problem,” he said.
Similarly, some Nigerian security operatives on Wednesday went after the Bureau De Change operators in the Sabo area of Ibadan.
Sabo in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital in Southwest Nigeria, is the hub of bureaux de change in the state.
The operatives included personnel of police and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission personnel.
President Bola Tinubu’s administration has launched a nationwide clampdown on persons involved in currency racketeering following the free fall of the naira.
Nigeria’s naira has dropped to a record low against the dollar on the official market.
Ibom Focus learnt that the naira on Friday exchanged for N1910 to $1 on the parallel market and N1605 on the official market as the naira failed to show significantly gain amid the government’s clampdown on currency speculators.
Ibom Focus earlier reported how Nigerian security operatives including EFCC officials on Wednesday raided some Bureau De Change outlets in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and arrested over 100 operators as the country’s currency slipped further.
The National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu on Tuesday, directed operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, the EFCC, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) to go after forex market speculators as part of measures to stem volatility in the foreign exchange market.
Ribadu, in a statement by Zakari Mijinyawa, Head, Strategic Communications in the Office of the NSA, said the office had to wade in at this time because some individuals and organisations had continued to undermine proactive measures of the Central Bank of Nigeria to stabilise the foreign exchange market and stimulate economic activities.
