On Monday, officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) raided the offices of the bureau of de change (BDC) operators in Wuse Zone 4 Abuja over their alleged roles in the continuous drop of the naira against the US dollar. Over 50 BDC operators were arrested.

On Wednesday, Oyo Affairs reported that the EFCC officials repeated the same action in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State. The anti-graft officials were seen with arms in the Sabo area of the city.

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Happening now: EFCC goes after Bureau De Change operators in Sabo Ibadan. pic.twitter.com/wK05R3H4OH

— Oyo Affairs (@Oyoaffairs) February 21, 2024

One of the BDC operators who spoke with FIJ anonymously said that the EFCC is targeting them due to a weird belief that they are responsible for the naira’s consistent devaluation. The idea may be to limit the supply channels of the dollar in the country and control the exchange rate through the back door.

“The EFCC is trailing BDCs because they believe we are contributing to the continuous rise of USD and other currencies,” he told FIJ.

“According to them, they believe they can regulate the streets to stabilise the naira. However, I think they should deploy more intentional measures to stabilise the naira because the demand for dollars needs to be reduced.”

Mikael Bernard, a crypto market analyst, also told FIJ that the federal government’s idea of scapegoating BDCs and petty crypto traders needs to end, as they are not responsible for the naira’s downward spiral.

He added that the raid would even force them to hide and then hike their price, exacerbating the scarcity of dollars.

“The idea of scapegoating BDCs and petty crypto traders needs to end. They are not the problem. The raid would only lead to BDCs and crypto traders going underground and further price hikes, leading to even more scarcity,” Bernard said.

“It would only make it harder for people to buy FX, depreciating the naira further. The naira traded for up to N2,000/$ on some platforms on Tuesday.

“This should tell them that their policy isn’t working and cannot salvage the naira.”

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FIJ found that this is not the first time the Nigerian government has attempted to save the naira through eccentric measures.

In 2015, Godwin Emefiele, the then governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, ordered the cutting down of trees in Abuja to halt the operations of BDCs as a way to strengthen the naira against the dollar.

The government said the trees served as shade for the illegal money changers, and cutting them would stop their transactions, thereby empowering the value of the naira.