Emefiele, ABCON Boss Win Awards

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele has been named the ‘Chief Executive of the Year 2018.’

Also, the President of the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe has won the ‘Private Sector Personality of the Year 2018 Award’.

They were awarded at the 7th Anniversary Lecture & Man of The Year Award organised by the Nigerian NewsDirect in Lagos recently. Gwadabe emerged winner given his contributions to the stability of the
foreign exchange market, and the naira.

Other awardees included the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru, who won the Man of the Year Award and the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde
Fashola.

Gwadabe, who dedicated the award to ABCON staff, said he felt so greatly honoured to be recognised, adding that ABCON remains committed to working with the stakeholders in supporting forex availability and naira stability.

“I am therefore particularly delighted that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele is implementing appropriate measures to make foreign exchange available and the naira stable against world currencies. At the ABCON end, we have established the naijabdcs.com, a live rate engine room to be rolled out soon, that will ensure uniform genuine rate quote across forex market”.

Continuing, he said: “Let me assure the CBN and other stakeholders in the forex market that Bureau de Change (BDC) operators stand ready to collaborate with them in supporting the development of a viable and stable foreign exchange market for the country. And this readiness is directly in harmony with our resolve and vision to create a professional and ethical BDC sector that will act as a financial catalyst for job creation and inclusive economic growth,” he said.

Gwadabe advised the CBN to use the current buffers presented by the $46 billion foreign exchange reserves to tackle the multiplicity of exchange rates. He said the CBN should also look at the challenges faced by BDCs in terms of pricing of their dollars, and even make BDCs direct agent of the International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOS). This, he said, would cheapen dollars as Nigerians still pay high charges for using IMTOs to source dollars, thereby making the greenback to cost more.

He added: “Nigerians should always look out for the ABCON sign on BDC offices before they can do even a dollar transaction. That will prevent them from buying counterfeit currencies. That is one of the gains of patronizing licenced BDCs”.