EFCC Raids BDC Operators Across States Over Forex Hikes

Following the arrest reports of Bureau De Change (BDC) operators by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the Wuse Zone 4, area Abuja, arrests of the operators in other states of Nigeria have been replicated.

On Wednesday, operatives of the EFCC raided a BDC market at Asata, along Owerri Road, Enugu. Also, the anti-graft agency reportedly raided the BDC operators in Oyo State. West Africa Weekly confirmed the raid from the Chairman of the Ibadan Association of Bureau De Change (BDC), Aminu Ibrahim.

He said that the operators luckily escaped before the EFCC could make any arrests.

The people and the government are just accusing BDCs of hoarding dollars and causing the hike in Forex, but it is not true,” he said.

In an effort to stabilise the naira, the apex bank made a move to ban foreign exchange on Binance, a cryptocurrency trading platform widely used by Nigerians for crypto transactions and Forex.

Many Nigerians have criticised the move as ineffective as many would transition to other exchange/trading platforms.

An X user, @MikaelBernard, on Tuesday, posited Binance’s decision to de-platform Nigerians as “absolutely ridiculous” while adding that “If this is how they plan to save the naira, I’m sorry but it’s going to fail woefully.”

Meanwhile, the apex bank has 5,691 BDC operators on its approval list operating in Nigeria.

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Mayowa Durosinmi

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M. Durosinmi is a West Africa Weekly investigative reporter covering Politics, Human Rights, Health, and Security in West Africa and the Sahel Region

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