Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC on Wednesday in Lagos, raided Bureau de Change BDC operators across various locations in the state over the falling value of the naira, especially in the last two weeks.

This development has partly led to an appreciable increase in the value of the naira, which rose to about N630 to the United States dollar as against the N710, which the currency exchanged the previous week with a projection that naira might exchange at N1,000 to the U.S dollar before the end of the year.

Recall that Nigeria’s upper legislative chamber, the Senate had threatened to summon the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN, Godwin Emefiele to explain the free fall of the naira, which exchanged N730/dollar at some point.

A competent BDC source told Business & Transport on the condition of anonymity that operatives of the anti-graft agency, who came in a Toyota Hummer bus stormed the Tinubu Square, Lagos location of the BDC operators in order to arrest some operators.

The source, who could not confirm whether some operators were truly arrested, noted that people around that location including some BDC operators went into hiding when they sighted the operatives of the EFCC in their reflexive jackets.

He admitted that the value of the naira was gradually stabilising against the dollar, which has led to massive losses by the parallel market operators, as they are forced to sell at a lower rate, having bought when rates were higher.

“Only yesterday, I lost over N270, 000 because I had sell at a lower rate because we bought when the rates were higher. This free fall of the naira started when the political parties commenced preparations for their primary elections when they had to mop up all dollars in circulation at that point”, the source lamented.

It would be recalled that the CBN had vowed to arrest and prosecute Nigerians using the naira to buy dollars. This followed the threat by the Senate to summon the CBN governor to explain the free fall of the naira.

“For those taking money from banks to buy dollars, it is illegal to do so. If the security agencies hold you, you will know the implication of that,” Emefiele had said at the last Monetary Policy Committee MPC meeting in Lagos recently.

Emefiele, who read the riot act, urged Nigerians illegally exchanging naira for dollar to stop, adding that the apex bank would conduct investigations and bar those found guilty from conducting transactions in Nigerian banks.

 “We will conduct investigations, and we will have proof, and you will not be able to conduct transactions in any Nigerian bank. We will place ‘post no debit’ on the defaulting customer’s account. It is a very injurious tool to stop you from conducting illegal flows, either domestic or foreign currency,” added the CBN governor.

The warning followed the central bank’s efforts to prevent further deterioration of the Naira’s value and the country’s economy