Buhari: We ended sale of forex to BDCs because CBN directors were shortchaging the govt
President Muhammadu Buhari has revealed that his government decided to stop the sale of foreign exchange to bureau de change (BDC) operators because of fraudulent acts perpetrated by some directors of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Speaking on the state of the economy during an interactive session with the Nigerian community in the United Kingdom on the sidelines of the Supporting Syria Conference in London, Buhari said he discovered that some CBN directors used BDCs that they owned to shortchange the government.
“We found out that some directors of CBN owned bureau de change and when foreign exchange comes, they take it to their bureau de change and give government the change,” he said.
“We had to stop the federal government giving bureau the change. I am explaining this to give a tip of the ice berg of the problem we inherited. We are getting so hard because we have no other [option] than to make everybody accountable.”
He said his administration had been able to plug leakages and save N2. 2 trillion through the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
Buhari said although the TSA was the initiative of the Goodluck Jonathan administration, the immediate past government did not make use of it.
“When we discovered that we were already in trouble, we tried to enforce the TSA. This government did not initiate it, it was the previous government, but it was so unpopular to the previous government,” he said.
“For its own reasons, it couldn’t impose it, but when we came and we found out that we were broke, we saw that this as the way to do it.
“We discovered that the NNPC had more than 45 accounts, the ministry of defence and the military had more than 70 accounts; tell me which of the accounts to trace every year.
“So we enforced TSA, we said there must be TSA, and let me tell you by the end of December coming to January this year, last month we mopped up more than N2.2 trillion.”
Banks should sell forex to those who need it. It should be official,I think that that’s the way to go in this case. Banks refused to sell foreign exchange to customers who needed it because of the greed of their directors who were buying at official rates from CBN and selling to the public at black market rates. I personally go with the government on this policy.
For most of the banks, sale of foreign currency was their main business, and that is why some of them are in trouble today.
A very good measure taken at a rather unfortunate time Mr President, but the downtrodden Nigerian knows nothing of these sort. Mr President should device other means that will enlighten the masses at the grassroot in such a way that the hardship will not cast the administration in bad light. There should be blockages and austerity measures before such a hard and sensitive decision is taken