President Muhammad Buhari has lent his stamp of support to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) move to stop supply of dollars to the Bureau de Change operators in the country.
Speaking to an audience of Nigerians living in Kenya, during a recent State visit to the East African country, President Buhari said that the Bureau de Change business had become a scam and a drain on the economy.
“We had just 74 of the bureau in 2005, now they have grown to about 2,800,” the President noted.
He alleged that some bank and government officials used surrogates to run the BDCs and prosper at public expense by obtaining foreign exchange from government at official rates and selling it at much higher rates.
The President said: “We will use our foreign exchange for industry, spare parts and the development of needed infrastructure.
“We don’t have the Dollars to give to the BDCs. Let them go and get it from wherever they can, other than the Central Bank,” President Buhari told the gathering.