FCTA RESUMING ENFORCEMENT AGAINST ILLEGAL ROADSIDE FOREX DEALERS

At Wuse Zone 4 in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) on Monday stepped up its crackdown on illegal roadside currency dealers, also known as Bureau De Change operators.

A number of red-light districts in the city's Central Business District were raided at the same time, and places thought to be drug traffickers' hideouts were ransacked and set on fire.

The enforcement team would be forced to start arresting and prosecuting the illegal hawkers, according to Comrade Ikharo Attah, the Senior Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Monitoring Inspection and Enforcement.

The Economic and Financing Crimes Commission's (EFCC) warnings to currency dealers were concerning since they insisted that if they didn't follow the rules for doing business, the appropriate authorities might be called in to clean up the sector.

Malam Muhammad Bello, the FCT Minister, wants individuals to succeed in their various businesses, but that they must always act legally.

The EFCC reports against the Wuse Zone 4 Bureau De Change operators, according to Attah, disclosed numerous unlawful activities that the current administration will not tolerate and will instead cooperate with other government agencies to address.

When asked why the squad raided the alleged drug dealers' colonies, he said that more needs to be done to ensure that Abuja's festive season is peaceful.

The taskforce would continue to be unwavering in its commitment to eliminating everything that contributes to insecurity in the nation's capital, he added.

We needed to handle the issue of insecurity, Attah indicated, by getting rid of all the shanties surrounding the Bolingo hotels and the Churchgate building. Selling currencies is a highly challenging endeavor. The EFCC had written letters to the FCT Minister urging the administration to use its enforcement tools to stop the cash hawking.

We already spoke with them and are doing so again to caution them to put an end to the illegal activity and conduct their business in accordance with the law. Since the Minister and EFCC have expressed significant concern over the matter, we want them to conduct their business in their stores. We also think it's risky for them to exchange money along the road because they might get attacked by crooks, he continued.

The leadership of the Union of Burea De Change operators in this country has been working to organize the populace, according to Alhaji Danlami, the Deputy National Chairman of Burea De Change operators.

We are law-abiding citizens who want everyone to follow the law in everything they do.

The black-market traders and Bureau de Change were the targets of a security operation because of their alleged involvement in the naira's decline versus the US currency.

Even the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, made a reference to this at a media briefing on the outcome of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC110th)'s meeting last week in Abuja, where he said that those detained were forex hoarders whose dishonest actions had kept the value of hard currency high and scarce, to the detriment of Nigerians.