CHAIRMAN of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Abdulrasheed Bawa on Wednesday said the anti-graft agency’s intervention in the Forex market, including raids on bureau de change (BDC) operators, was behind the recent rise in the value of the naira against the United States dollar.
Bawa spoke during a workshop for journalists titled “Effective Reporting of Economic and Financial Crimes,” held at the EFCC’s Headquarters in Abuja.
“However, one achievement which most of you may not easily recognise is the impact which EFCC’s intervention in the Forex market has had on the value of the naira. From well over N710 to the dollar, following the Commission’s intervention, the naira has appreciated significantly against the dollar in the parallel market, and we are not relenting in our efforts to check harmful speculative activities in the sector,” he said.
In July 2022, amid concerns over the influence of market speculators on the depletion of the naira, operatives of the EFCC stormed Wuse Zone 4, Abuja, home to most BDC operators in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
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The raid was said to be the product of weeks of surveillance during which agents of the EFCC monitored the activities of most of the bureau de change operators in the Wuse Zone 4 axis.
The anti-graft agency was understood to have obtained information that some elements with massive naira inflow had mobilised resources and were busy buying up available foreign currencies, especially the US dollar, that they intended to either hoard or smuggle out of Nigeria.
Speaking at the workshop on Wednesday, Bawa disclosed that the EFCC convicted a total of 2,210 suspects involved in economic and financial crimes between January 1, 2022, to August 5, 2022.
“Some of you will recall that at the end of 2021, the Commission announced that it recorded a total of 2,220 convictions. I am pleased to inform you that we are poised to improve on that figure as the record of convictions as of August 5, 2022, was 2,210,” he added.
He urged media practitioners to beam their searchlight on the success of the agency in areas like the forex market.
“I urge you to also beam your searchlights on this area as it is in our collective interest to have a national currency whose value is not subject to the whims of crooked speculators.”
Bawa said the Commission decided to sponsor the workshop to underscore the importance that it attaches to the role of the media in the fight against economic and financial crimes, including corruption.
“Without doubt, the media’s ability to inform and sensitise the people on the ills of corruption and economic crime is crucial for us. So far, the media has been helpful. If nothing else, the Commission enjoys the visibility that makes it the reference point for effectiveness in law enforcement in Nigeria.
“This event is, therefore, one of the interventions by the Commission to improve the capacity of the media to deliver on its constitutional mandate as the Fourth Estate of the Realm,” EFCC chairman noted.
A reporter with the ICIR
A Journalist with a niche for quality and a promoter of good governance