The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria, ABCON, the umbrella body of Bureaux De Change operators in the country, has appealed to the monetary authorities to extend the January 31 earlier set as deadline for the renewal of its members’ licences to March 31, 2018.
This is even as the association also called on the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to review the exchange rate band for sale of the dollar to the BDCs from 360/dollar and also consider revising downward the licence renewal fee for BDCs from N250,000 per annum.
These were some of the highlights of the resolutions at the end of the association’s meeting held yesterday in Lagos.
In a post-meeting chat with journalists, the Acting President, ABCON, Aminu Gwadabe, who was represented by the National Treasurer, Gbadamosi Moh-Murtala, disclosed that that the leadership of the association would meet the apex bank tomorrow (Friday) to discuss the meeting’s resolutions with the authorities.
The ABCON leader hinted further that the essence of the planned was to make the CBN officials appreciate the need to establish additional foreign exchange disbursement centres in Port Harcourt, Ibadan, amongst other cities nationwide to support ABCON members operations and make forex easier to access by users in those cities.
He recalled that members of the association had earlier registered their complaints over persistent business losses being recorded by them as a consequence of the apex bank’s policy which fixes the price of forex for BDCs at 360/dollar, adding that the situation is no longer desirable for business continuity among ABCON members
Gwadabe clarified: “We want the CBN to review the BDC rate to ensure that currency speculators do not return to the market. Remember the BDCs buy dollar at N360/$1 from the International Money Transfer Operators
“Many forex users prefer to buy at the parallel market instead of the BDCs because there are no longer rate gaps. They prefer the parallel market where no single documentations required. That is why we are calling on the CBN to review the rate band for the BDCs.
“Part of the resolutions of the meeting is to urge the CBN to get our automation system completed on or before March. This shall be discussed at the meeting as well. We the BDCs have pledged to continue to work with the CBN to achieve naira stability, and we will not renege in this promise”, he added.
Expatiating further on the challenges being faced by the association’s members, the foreign exchange market expert, predicted that if the problems remains unresolved it would trigger a liquidity crisis with the attendant potential negative implications for naira exchange rate stability.
