The Association of Bureaux de Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has set N250 to dollar exchange rate agenda for President Muhammadu Buhari in his second term in office.
ABCON President, Alhaji (Dr) Aminu Gwadabe, who disclosed this in a statement, said achieving a lower exchange rate for the economy would 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 would 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 would stabilise the local currency, raise investors’ confidence, improve Diaspora remittance flow and entrench fiscal discipline.
Continuing, he said a stronger naira will raise Internally Generated Revenue, help in the implementation of the restriction of foreign exchange access to 42 items that can 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 29, 2019.
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.
The ABCON boss said: “It is only when the economy is buoyant, that they 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 said the Investors and Exporters (I&E) Forex Window introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is having positive impact on the Forex market and should be sustained because of the stability it has brought to the market.
According to Gwadabe, there is need for fiscal restructuring by ensuring that states become more efficient in revenue generation and less dependent on federal allocations.
“Government should focus on things that create jobs especially through small and medium enterprises by creating opportunities for them to have easy access to funds,” he said.
