Again, EFCC raids BDC market in Abuja as naira appreciates at forex parallel market

Officers of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, have shut down illegal Bureau De Change operators in Wuse Zone 4 Abuja on Thursday as the Naira appreciates against the US dollar, the foreign exchange parallel market.

A Bureau De Change operator, Mistila Dayyabu, disclosed this to the Torizone on Thursday.

According to him, the BDC operation was closed following the raid of EFCC operatives.

He noted that no BDC operator will buy or sell foreign exchange at Wuse Zone 4 on Thursday.

"No business is taking place at Wuse Zone 4 at the moment. The operations of EFCC have shut down the market," he stated.

When asked about the current rate of Naira to USD at the parallel market, he said: I can't say what the rate is because trading is not taking place at the moment. We are scared of buying so as not to make losses.

"Similarly, we can't sell because we can no longer determine the rate. While some said they buy at N1,450 per USD, others said it's N1,750 per USD."

Mohammed Bello, another BDC operator, disclosed on Thursday that he is no longer buying or selling USD due to the uncertainty in the FX market.

"I am no longer buying or selling. We will have to study the market. BDC operations in Wuse Zone 4 have been shut down. Several customers had called me today, but I could not attend them," he said.

Torizone gathered that development surged in the number of Nigerians willing to sell their FX, but BDC operators were unwilling to buy or sell.

Consequently, at the parallel FX market, the naira traded between N1,500 and N1750 per US dollar on Thursday, from N1,970 the previous day.

Recall that in the past three days, the officers had carried out raids on BDC operators in Abuja, Lagos, Kano and Ibadan, Oyo states over Naira's depreciation against USD at the forex market.

Reacting to the development, Bismarck Rewane, the Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Derivatives Company, described the move by EFCC in order of the federal government as doom.