Omodele Adigun
The Association of Bureaux de Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has set N250 to dollar exchange rate agenda for President Muhammadu Buhari during his second term in office.
Its President, Aminu Gwadabe, who disclosed this to financial journalists in Lagos, said achieving a lower exchange rate for the economy will benefit the common man and lift businesses. The naira exchanges at N362 to dollar at the parallel market and N358 to dollar at the Bureaux De Change (BDC), while the local currency exchanges at N306 to dollar at the official rate.
The ABCON boss also said such lower exchange rate will improve the transaction volume for BDCs by enabling operators to buy and sell more dollars from their available cashflow.
He said a lower exchange rate against the greenback will stabilize the local currency, raise investors’ confidence, improve Diaspora remittance flow and entrench fiscal discipline.
He added that a stronger Naira will raise Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), help in the implementation of the restriction of foreign exchange access to 42 items that can be produced locally and improve BDCs’ capabilities to thrive.
Gwadabe therefore advised the Federal Government to constitute new economic management team and review government’s performance in the last four years. He added that such review would give room for better performance in the second term of this administration which commences in May.
Gwadabe said the economy is not performing to expectations, and government is expected to re-strategise and review its performance in the last four years and develop concrete actionable strategy for better performance.
Gwadabe said that if government waits till May 29 before setting up a think-tank economic team with functional experience on the economy, security, agriculture and human resource development, it would have wasted tangible time needed for smooth take-off.
He said the committee members should have deep knowledge of the economy, and be ready to access information on how these sectors have worked effectively in other countries in order to deploy similar strategy in the interest of the local economy.
Gwadabe said that by now, government should know where the complaints over its performance in the last four years came from and give priority to tackling unemployment, fixing road infrastructure, creating better investment opportunities for the people and companies as well as strengthening the financial sector, of which BDCs are key players.
“It is only when the economy is buoyant, that the people will be able to save, and that provide enough liquidity for banks to lend and fuel the economy. The other sub-sectors including the bureaux de change sector will equally be positively impacted y a thriving economy”, he added.
Gwadabe also advised the Federal Government to be more cautious at borrowing, ensuring that borrowed funds are channeled to projects that will be able to repay the loans.