Angry Bureau de Change Operators Demand for Refund of N35m Deposit from CBN

                            

Bureau De Change (BDC) operators in Abuja, on Tuesday, demanded for the refund of their N35 million deposit from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The amount was part of the CBN guidelines required for registration of BDCs to operate in the country.In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), they said that this followed the apex bank’s decision, on Monday, to stop selling foreign exchange to them.

In his comments, Mr Yusuf Ibrahim, the Chairman, Association of BDC Operators in Abuja, said that his members would meet with CBN on the need to seek for refund of their N35 million.

"The issue of N35 million deposit has to be revisited. Also, we need to know if this policy is temporary or permanent. This will determine our next action. We are saying this because the licence from CBN is now useless. It does not favour us one bit. So, they should return this money so that we can put it back into business and make profit," Ibrahim said.

Another operator, Malam Salisu Ibrahim, said: "Though, I will like CBN to give us our deposit, we will lose the security and protection of the government which is important in this business.

"We rarely have problem with EFCC and other law enforcement agencies because our activities are sanctioned by CBN. Even if CBN says come and collect your deposit, I will not collect it because of the cover I get from CBN," he said.

Also, Alhaji Mohammed Sanusi, a BDC operator, predicted that in the near future, the new policy would make the market to be flooded with dollars.

"I believe that dollars will flood the market because though CBN has lifted the ban on deposit of foreign currencies in banks, wealthy people will not utilise this. This is because they have the mindset that if they deposit certain amount of say one million dollars, the authorities will catch up with them. So, they will be forced to sell them to us, and this will help to sustain our businesses. In fact, if all people hoarding dollars bring them out, the problem will now be how to get enough naira to cover it," Sanusi said.

He said the policy was likely to crash the foreign exchange market which would result in panic selling since wealthy people could not deposit in the bank.