EFCC raids Abuja BDCs over worsening naira free fall

Officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Tuesday stormed areas in Abuja where dealers – Bureau de Change operators – trade foreign currencies against the naira.

The raid came as the naira continued its decline against the US dollar, exchanging for as high as N850 to $1.

The EFCC confirmed the raid to Channels Television but did not disclose details.

Last week the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced a redesign of the naira as part of measures to tighten monetary policy.

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed that the apex bank would redesign the country’s currency from 200 Naira denomination to N1,000 notes. He said the action was taken in order to take control of the currency in circulation, stressing that the bulk of the nation’s currency notes were outside bank vaults and that the CBN would not allow the situation to continue.

The planned policy, he added, was in line with Sections 19, Subsections a and b of the CBN Act 2007, upon which the Management of the CBN sought and obtained the approval of the President Muhammadu Buhari to redesign, produce, and circulate new series of banknotes at N200, N500, and N1,000 notes.

But critics of the measure say the naira’s redesign would lead to more demand for dollars.