By Babajide Komolafe
ABCON President, Dr. Emmanuel Balogun has expressed concern over the activities of illegal foreign currency traders, saying  they not only undermine and bring the business of Bureau De Change  to disrepute, but  also undermine the growth of the economy.

Illegal foreign currency operators, also known as “ Black Marketers” operate from the streets and road-sides where they solicit business from prospective sellers and end-users of foreign bank notes.

“How do you justify a situation where  an illegal forex trader  takes control of the “business” at the road side before the innocent and unsuspecting customer is able to make his way to a formal, licensed and regulated foreign exchange dealer as represented by the “BDC”, he remarked.
He said, “It will be interesting to note that most of the unwholesome practices allegedly perpetrated in forex transactions by BDCs can largely be attributed or traced to these street forex traders and not to ABCON members which are    BDCs that are licensed and  regulated by the CBN, and controlled by ABCON with its self regulating (SRO) status.

Nigerians are entitled to know that there is a world of difference between the black marketers and ABCON members.
In consonant with the  operating guideline of BDCs,  ABCON disallows its members from operating any where except the member’s registered office and any member who for any reason is found to be operating from or on the street will not be tolorated.

Members of the public are therefore advised to be weary of where they transact their forex business. There is the need to tread carefully as both the customer and the illegal trader are both culpable in such transaction. The dealer will not be identified with a known addresss to which they can be traced in the event of any post transaction development.”
Balogun advised illegal forex traders to formalise their  business by obtaining BDC license and ABCON registration adding that  the  association is willing to assist them accordingly.

He said as part of measures to further sanitise the BDC industry and enhance its credibility,  ABCON will soon introduce measures that will compel all its members  to issue receipts that must have both ABCON logo and the individual BDC ABCON membership number.

Balogun  also used the opportunity to appealed to banks for a more harmonious relationship with BDCs vis-a-vis charges and promptness i.e in addressing BDC transactions’ turn around time in responds to the demands of their bdc customers adding that there is the need for banks to see BDCs as partners in progress as they are both financial intermediaries promoting the development of the economy at different levels and regulated by the same institution, the CBN.

He praised the CBN under the leadership of Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi for  its recent policy initiatives especially  the  reopening  of application  for  licensing of new BDCs and thereby allowing more investors to come  into the sub-sector

“Yes agreed” he said “in a near perfect economy there is free entry and free exit but economic growth certainly cannot be achieved by perpetrating illegality otherwise such growth like a bubble will burst in a matter of time”, he said and once again promised that ABCON will not relent in its drive to bring sanity to the sector. In the same vein also extended his thanks to the director, NFIU Mr. Norman Wokoma and the Chairman EFCC Mrs. Farida Waziri for their regulatory and supervisory roles.

He said as a nation we need to be more aggressive in tackling infrastructural needs of the economy in order to transform the nation to a more prosperous state. Balogun therefore called on all stake holders in the sub-sector to come together, in other to forge a formidable way forward to assist policy formation and implementation which inturn will uplift the scale and vibrancy of the economy in the right direction.