₦airaland Forum

Lekby25:
Allowing the use of naira cards to transact international business means you no longer need to carry cash dollars abroad when traveling, thereby reducing demand for cash dollars, meaning that nothing to force the price up, simple economics

Kukutente23:
Yahoo boys sell their dollars with the hope of leaving no paper trails
Like I told the other man, demand will rise as the rates stabilise. With that increase in demand, the alternative is either to increase rates or to restrict demand since we don't control supply
It's simple economics
As a matter of fact, dollar inflow has been very low this year

LegendHero:
The Bureau De Change (BDC) operators have lamented that they are close to going out of operations as most of its members are struggling to stay afloat and meet up with overhead expenses.

These licensed currency traders have attributed this mainly to the suspension of dollar allocation by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the BDCs, as they struggle to have access to foreign exchange from the official window.

The operators lamented that with the huge drop in income level, paying staff salaries, office rent, licenses and other compliance expenses has become a major challenge.

This is further compounded by the uncertainty in the retail sub-sector of the forex market, with many of the BDC operators still battling to meet up with the recapitalization and license processes.

The CBN has since stopped the sales of forex to the licensed currency traders with little or no intervention till date. The BDC operators, who said that the CBN could not sustain the exercise, however, noted that they are `engaged in positive discussion with the apex bank for the return of their active participation in the BDCs in the retail end of the forex market.

Customers now prefer to use IMTOs
In an exclusive chat with Nairametrics, a BDC operator, Abubakar Ardo, said that most of them are barely managing to stay in business, as the non-sale of forex directly to the BDCs has affected their operations badly.

Apart from the challenge of getting forex from the official window, Ardo explained that the demand for forex has dropped sharply as most customers now prefer to do transfers or use online platforms or International Money Transfer Operator (IMTOs) instead of physical cash exchanges.

He said, ‘’Honestly, things have been extremely tough for us lately. Most operators are just managing to stay afloat. Since the CBN stopped selling forex directly to us, our operations have been badly affected. We used to depend largely on the official window to get foreign exchange at regulated rates, but that avenue has been shut for a long time.

‘’Right now, survival depends mostly on what we can get from walk-in customers — people coming in to sell small amounts of dollars, pounds, or euros. But that’s not structured or steady. Sometimes, you can go days without a single serious transaction. The market is very dislocated, and demand has dropped sharply because most people now prefer to do transfers or use online platforms or IMTOs instead of physical cash exchanges.

‘’This may be good for the Naira, but sincerely, many of us are suffering. That’s why we’re proposing we get fully integrated.

‘’Meeting up with overhead costs has become a major challenge. Office rent, staff salaries, licenses, and other compliance expenses are still there, but the income isn’t coming in as before. As I talk with you, many operators have either closed shop temporarily or reduced their workforce just to cut costs.’’

He insisted that they are basically operating in survival mode — trying to keep their licenses active and hoping that the CBN will eventually re-integrate BDCs into the official market.

Going extinct
Making his own contribution, the President of the Association of Bureau Dec Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Aminu Gwadebe, pointed out that the majority of its members are struggling to meet up with their overhead expenses, with their operations almost going extinct.

He said, ‘’The market is stable. As patriotic citizens, we align with policies that strengthen our sovereignty, which is the naira and commend both the regulatory and fiscal authorities on the naira stability and elimination of the exchange rate spikes.

‘’Our operations are currently near extinction, with the majority of our members struggling to meet up with overhead expenses. There is an ongoing positive collaboration between the CBN and the operators on the return of active participation of the BDCs in the retail end of the FX market.

‘’The BDCs, over time, remained the most potent tool of the CBN’s foreign exchange policy transmission mechanism. The majority of us are comatose as survival is largely dependent on the official foreign exchange market, which is not accessible to the BDCs, with only very few grappling with dislocated and unstructured walk-in customers.’’

Gwadebe noted that the CBN discontinued the sales of forex to BDCs a long time ago, with little or no intervention to date.
Source: https://nairametrics.com/2025/10/27/forex-traders-struggle-to-survive-as-cbn-cuts-bdcs-off-from-dollar-supply/

erniok:
Yahoo boys target gift cards. Pls which BDC deals on gift cards. If it's paper trail, they use crypto. Do BDCs now deal on crypto?

As for politicians, they sell the dollars they bid to them and so, this will even curb corruption.

Why again do you speculate low FDI this year. Any data?

YesDaddyTill203:
I don't, my need is always changing dollars to naira for personal use. But those apps also provide for buying dollars with Naira.
I'm not sure about which rate is better, but I have seen that function on Lemfi and other apps.
After comparing the rates on Lagos streets with some Apps, I concluded that it's not worth it to bring cash to change to dollars unless you're doing a very large sum. That also comes with risk. Online is safe and hassle-free..

Kukutente23:
FDI is different from dollar inflow
Go and check the stats
Inflow has been low
Demand has also been low
Once demand begins to rise, BDCs will come into play
BDCs deal on a lot of instruments. Some are even use as fronts for banks especially during the Buhari era

erniok:
Ok. Noted but do you have the stats that points to low inflow because I'm yet to see one. Projection is towards Christmas for heavy inflows.


If you were referring to Buhari era, I'd agree as their services was needed as banks stopped international spending on naira debit cards. Even processing form M and form A were difficult but no longer now.

That's why I keep saying no divergence anywhere.

olyrayy:
Does lemfi work in Nigeria? Last i tried, it only worked for people abroad...

I used to use flutterwave send to change USD to naira but it stopped working at a point because of some stupid regulation or so.

Dotherightthing:
This may be one of the reasons they are angry with Tinubu

YesDaddyTill203:
It does work because I do change money while I'm already in Nigeria. But I'm not sure if you can reister with a Nigerian number, accounts, and debit cards.

olyrayy:
How do you buy USD online?

Olaide1295:
The BDCs are the ones who provide dollars to corrupt politicians

‘’This may be good for the Naira, but sincerely, many of us are suffering. That’s why we’re proposing we get fully integrated

Kukutente23:
Inflows plummeted in the previous week
BDCs have always been required at the retail end as demand pressure increases. Demand is low now that's why BDCs are grumbling
Next year is an election year
Let's see how demand will be

inoki247:
Lol Alot of ways....


Just get a Bybittt Virtual card and convert some coin....


Even if you want du up to 50k USD a day you're good to go....

Kukutente23:
You already answered the question
Why do we have POS selling cash when we should have ATMs
Demand has fallen due to the exacerbated rates. With time, demand will begin to mount. Emefiele's CBN restricted access to forex in order to restrict demand. It's obvious the alternative is to drive up rates with its attendant effect on inflation and exchange rate parity

Emeskhalifa:
You don't do POS business, just like I belive you're not a BDC agent.

Take for instance in POS business, the demand for bulk cash as of 2018, 2019 and 2020 were very high but after those years many people who go to POS to ask for bulk cash have adopted the transfer options. Even the labourers now have bank account and no need for bulk cash to pay them, don't bother arguing with me coz it is my field.
Same thing will happen to BDC should many of their customers adopt transferring from their phones instead of lookin for dollar upandan to use when they can swiftly send dollar from their phone

erniok:
Any data to support the bolded?

DrAda:
Good. I hope it stays that way. Naira has stabilised, and hopefully, in time, will grow stronger against the dollar. This shows that BDCs are not needed.

Kukutente23:
You didn't explain how it won't
You don't seem to have good comprehension capacity
What is the relationship between BDC demand for foreign currency and using naira cards for international transactions?

descartes400:
Why are you so much in haste to insult?

He is right though...because,
The relationship between BDC demand for foreign currency and using naira cards for international transactions is that they are alternatives for accessing foreign currency.

When BDC demand for foreign currency is high, it may indicate a shortage or scarcity of foreign currency in the formal channels, leading individuals to explore alternative options like using naira cards for international transactions.

Using naira cards for international transactions allows individuals to access foreign currency without necessarily going through BDCs or traditional forex channels. This can help reduce demand pressure on BDCs and provide an alternative means of accessing foreign currency for international transactions.

patrickcollins:
Tinubu will further devalue Naira come 2027 if he emerges winner this I have seen

Kukutente23:
Here

Kukutente23:
Why was usage of naira card banned and what is the alternative so far

erniok:
Thanks for this. FDI is responsible and it was only last week. I'll be concerned if shown it's been happening week on week

erniok:
It was stopped because of round tripping under Emefile as there was 150+ naira per dollar disparity. Most bank staff were involved in this becoming very rich overnight.

Kukutente23:
If true expect the black market and official rates to begin to diverge sharply in the coming weeks