The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Bureau De Change (BDC)

  • Maid steals bosses’ $10,000 

    Maid steals bosses’ $10,000 

    The police in Lagos have arrested a maid, Blessing Paul for allegedly stealing her boss’ $10,000 in Gbagada.

    Paul was alleged to have forcibly opened the boss’ room with a knife and collected the money while the woman was at work.

    It was gathered that the maid, who had been stealing money and other valuables from her victim’s home, handed over the foreign currencies to the house guard identified as Daniel.

    The guard, it was gathered, handed the money to a security man at another residence in Gbagada, who in turn took it to a Bureau De Change (BDC) operator for the Naira equivalent.

    But the operator was said to have told policemen he received only about $5,000 from Amos.

    Instead of giving them N360/USD, the BDC operator gave the suspects at N86 per dollar, thereby shortchanging the alleged thieves of more than two million naira.

    According to the command’s spokesman, Olarinde Famous-Cole, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), the woman they stole from was one Mrs. Tokunbo.

    He said the maid confessed that the woman has been very kind to her, adding that she usually bought clothes and gift items for her to take to her family in Benue State.

    Cole said that the BDC operator gave the suspects N870, 000 as equivalent for $5,000, adding that the police have recovered N400, 000 from there.

    “We also found N400, 000 in the maid’s bank account but we are following court’s procedure to seize the money. The BDC operator was allegedly given $10,000 but he claimed he only received $5,000. Investigation revealed that money and valuables have been missing in the house, but the woman didn’t suspect the maid until the theft of foreign currency last week.”

  • Naira weakens against dollar at parallel market

    Naira weakens against dollar at parallel market

    The Naira on Wednesday weakened against the Dollar at the parallel market.

    The Nigerian currency lost 8 points to exchange at N398, weaker than N390 recorded on Tuesday, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro closed at N485 and N415.

    At the Bureau de Change (BDC) window, the Dollar was sold at N362 to the dollar, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro closed at N483 and N430.

    Trading at the interbank window saw the Naira closed at N306.2 to the Dollar.

    Traders at the market said that they expected the Naira to appreciate by Thursday as BDCs gets additional dollar allocation from CBN.

    Meanwhile, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), said that the additional injection of $10,000 by the CBN to BDCs would help to checkmate speculation.

    Gwadabe said that CBN’s action justified its determination to continue to strengthen the Naira and get it out of the grips of speculators and hoarders.

    NAN reports that CBN, last week, stated that it had increased the volume of Dollar sold to BDCs from 8,000 to 10,000 dollars bi-weekly.

    The apex bank hoped to stabilise the Naira exchange rate through its interventions at the foreign exchange market.

     

  • Naira consolidates strength against dollar

    Naira consolidates strength against dollar

    The Naira on Friday in Lagos consolidated its position against the dollar at the parallel market, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    The Nigerian currency on Friday afternoon exchanged between N380 (buying rate) and N390 (selling rate), stronger than N400 recorded on Thursday, while the pound sterling and Euro closed at N490 and N430.

    At the Bureau De Change (BDC) window, the Naira was sold at N399 to the dollar, while the pound sterling and the Euro were sold at N500 and N400.

    The Nigerian currency appreciated at the interbank market, closing at N307 to the dollar, from N308 posted on Thursday.

    Traders at the market said liquidity boost at the interbank market by the CBN was fast forcing the rate down at the market.

    Meanwhile, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, the President of the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), said CBN-licenced BDCs would incur regulatory losses of N130 million this week.

    Gwadabe told NAN that the losses were coming from CBN’s disparity in applicable exchange rates among players in the market.

    According to him, the public has refused to buy foreign exchange from BDCs for invisibles such as medicals, school fees, personal and business travel allowances at a rate above N375 to the dollar.

    The financial expert urged the CBN to promptly address the issue.

     

  • Police re-arraign filmmaker Egbegbe over alleged fraud

    Police re-arraign filmmaker Egbegbe over alleged fraud

    A Nigerian film maker, Olajide Kazeem, alias Seun Egbegbe, was on Friday, re-arraigned in a Federal High Court in Lagos, over charges of fraud.

    Egbegbe, who was charged alongside one Oyekan Ayomide, were arraigned on Feb. 10, before Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo.

    The duo were accused of swindling more than 30 Bureau De Change (BDC) operators of various sums both in local and foreign currencies between 2015 and 2017 in Lagos.

    The accused, however, pleaded not guilty and Justice Oguntoyinbo had on Feb. 24 granted each of them bail in the sum of N5million.

    When the case was called on Friday, the prosecutor, Mr Innocent Anyigor informed the court that the charges had been amended and the counts raised from 36 to 40.

    He, therefore, urged the court to allow the charges to be read to the accused for their pleas to be taken afresh.

    The accused were thus re-arraigned and they both pleaded not guilty to the charges.

    After their re-arraignment, the prosecutor told the court that he had 30 witnesses in court who are BDC operators, adding that he was ready to commence trial.

    But the judge said that she would prefer to begin with the testimony of the Investigating Police Officer so as to avoid cases where such police officers are transferred out of jurisdiction.

    She consequently fixed March 24 for trial.

    In the charge, marked FHC/L/40c/2017, the accused were said to have defrauded the BDC operators by falsely representing to the victims that they had foreign currencies to sell.

    The police alleged that on Feb. 2, for instance, the accused fraudulently obtained the sum of N2.5million and 3,000 pounds from one Alhaji Isa Adamu in Lagos under the guise that they wanted to see the naira and buy the pounds.

    Other victims of the alleged fraud include: Mohammed Sani, defrauded of N2.5million; Jubrila Ado, defrauded of N1.3million; Hassan Amodu, defrauded of N600,000; Sani Hassan, defrauded of N1.43million and 2,750 pounds, among others.

    The offences are said to have contravened the provisions of Section 8 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006.

     

  • Naira appreciates against dollar

    Naira appreciates against dollar

    The Naira on Tuesday appreciated against the dollar in all the segments of the forex market, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    The currency gained N44.95 to exchange at N305.27 to the dollar at the interbank market after its Monday’s record of N350. 22.

    At the parallel market, the naira gained N5 to exchange at N465 from N470 it traded on Monday, while it went for N565 and N510 against the Pound Sterling and the Euro, respectively.

    Trading at the Bureau De Change (BDC) Segment saw the currency exchange at N385, the control rated of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and at N564 against the Pound Sterling and N510 for Euro.

    Assessing the market, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), said that the naira had prospects of further appreciation in the days ahead.

    He told NAN that the CBN was working with Nigerians in Diaspora to woo more remittances back home.

    According to Gwadabe, the CBN had a robust meeting with stakeholders and Nigerians in Diaspora at the weekend in London on way to boost liquidity in the foreign exchange market.

    He said that more International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) had indicated interest in facilitating the repatriation of remittances from abroad. 

  • Naira stabilises at N304.75/$ at interbank market

    Naira stabilises at N304.75/$ at interbank market

    The naira on Wednesday stabilised at N304.75 to a dollar at the official interbank market, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    At the Bureau De Change (BDC) window, the nation’s currency traded at N385 to a dollar, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) controlled rate, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro closed at N564 and N509, respectively.

    The naira, however, weakened at the parallel market, losing five points to exchange at N470, from N465 traded on Tuesday, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro closed at N565 and 510 respectively.

    Prof. Sheiffdeen Tella, a senior Economist at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye in Ogun, said that the nation’s currency required a continuous inflow to sustain its appreciation at the market.

    Tella said that the market had been witnessing marginal appreciation because the inflow was not based on production.

    According to him, speculators take advantage of the movement of the naira to manipulate the market.

    The don explained that manufacturers were also looking the way of the parallel market to source for forex, thereby putting undue pressures on the naira.

    NAN reports that the sale of the proceeds of Diaspora remittances to BDCs had helped in sustaining the appreciation of the naira for about four weeks.

    Stakeholders are, however, troubled that in spite of the weekly sale of forex by Travelex and First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) in Lagos and Abuja, the naira was still struggling to survive.

     

  • Naira suffers further loss against dollar

    Naira suffers further loss against dollar

    The Naira on Friday suffered further loss against the dollar at the parallel market as it lost one point to the U.S. currency, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    The naira exchanged at N395 to the dollar from N394 it posted on Thursday, while it traded at N505 and N442 to the Pound Sterling and the Euro, respectively.

    At the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment of the market, the currency closed at N395 at the trading, while to the Pound and Euro, it exchanged at N503 and N434, respectively.

    However, it strengthened at the official interbank market as it exchanged at N316.55, from N347.13 posted on Thursday.

    Traders at the market expressed hope that the naira would rebound in the coming weeks as banks were ready to sell foreign exchange to BDCs in the coming weeks.