Peter Obi, the former Anambra State governor and presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, has criticised the government’s reported clampdown on Bureau De Change (BDC) operators, describing it as ill-advised and wrongly directed.
Gatekeepers News reports that in a post on X, Peter Obi said the action would worsen the country’s exchange rate situation and not alleviate the issue, stressing that BDCs are not the primary suppliers of forex.
He warned that the action would likely worsen the country’s exchange rate situation instead of alleviating it.
“The recent reported attacks and disruption of the business activities of Bureaux de Change (BDCs) operators in different urban centers across the country by Government Agencies, are ill-advised and wrongly directed,” Obi said.
“Rather than solve the problem, the action will further escalate and worsen the exchange rate situation in the country.
“The BDCs are not the primary suppliers of forex nor do they create demand. They only provide a market to sellers and buyers of foreign currency.”
Obi argued that BDC operators are a common feature in all economies, including the most developed ones, and attributing the decline in the value of the Naira to them is not based on rational economic thinking.
“To think that the BDCs are the cause of the declining value of the Naira is a smack on rational economic thinking,” he said.
“The only way to shore up the value of our currency is to move the country from consumption to production, especially export-led production, and fight corruption, which allows unproductive money to pursue the available supply of foreign currency.
“As long as Nigeria remains an unproductive economy and corruption continues unfettered with people in possession of unproductive excess cash, the value of our currency will continue to depreciate.”
According to him, it is critical that government officials appropriately comprehend how a modern economy functions and direct their efforts accordingly.
Obi’s remarks come in the wake of raids conducted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against illegal BDC operators in parts of the country on February 21, 2024.
