The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has accused Bureaux de Changes (BDCs) of financing terrorism and kidnapping in the country.
Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the CBN disclosed this in Abuja on Friday after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.
Emefiele who justified the decision of the apex bank to ban the sale of foreign exchange to BDCs, noted that the CBN has resolved to stop funding BDCs by dipping into the nation’s foreign reserve to fund BDCs all for the sake of stabilizing the forex market.
His words, “we have decided that this will stop and it has stopped for good. It beats my imagination that Nigeria carried on with this kind of practice that tended to support illegal activities of people who are involved in graft and involved in corrupt practices.”
He added that “instead of collecting Naira as a bribe you tell the person to exchange it for dollars so that you can have some packet of dollars in your pocket.”
Another reason for the decision he said is that “we have unwittingly supported activities of those who illegally buy foreign exchange from this illegal market, carry them in aircrafts out of the country and go to buy arms and ammunition and bring them back into the country and conduct crime whether it is Boko Haram, kidnapping or all sorts of nefarious activities. We the CBN take our country’s dollar and sell to people to go and buy arms ammunition to come and hurt us. That is what we are saying that people want us to continue to do. We cannot do that any longer.”
Emefiele told bank customers with legitimate requests for forex that exceeds the official limit that, “your bank will speak to us and we will give you what is even more than the limit. We will continue to monitor the banks.”
