E-Financial
Bureaux de Change Operators to Sack 30,000 Workers
Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, president, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), yesterday said that some 30,000 bureaux de change (BDC) workers would be sacked within the first quarter of this year.
About 200,000 workers are engaged in the sector.
Gwadabe, said that the move followed the continued loss of business by operators after the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) stoppage of weekly dollar sales to body.
The ABCON boss listed those to be affected as directors, auditors, operations managers and compliance officers, as well as chief executives.
Godwin Emefiele CBN governor, had announced a new foreign exchange policy which included the stoppage of weekly dollar sales to BDCs. He ordered the apex bank to henceforth discontinue sales of foreign exchange to BDCs.
“Operators in this segment of the market would now need to source their foreign exchange from autonomous sources. They must however, note that the CBN would deploy more resources to monitoring these sources to ensure that no operator is in violation of our anti-money laundering laws,” Emefiele said.
But Gwadabe said: “As law abiding citizens and partners in progress with the CBN, we respect the decision of the apex bank as the regulator of the banking industry and foreign exchange market where we operate. While we are not totally surprised by the decision, we, however, believe there are better ways of addressing the challenges in the foreign exchange market.”
He regretted that the BDCs were always blamed whenever there was naira volatility.
“Suffice to mention that before the CBN started selling dollars to BDCs in 2006, there were about 270 BDCs in the country. Despite the harsh operating environment, these operators were able to survive by servicing their clients. Secondly, the BDC industry was created by the CBN to fill a critical gap in the retail segment of the foreign exchange market. Furthermore, the decision to sell dollars to BDCs was in recognition of the role of BDCs to counter the effect of the illegal currency traffickers and the continued depreciation of the naira in the parallel market,” he said.
He explained that it was the involvement of the BDCs through the direct sale of dollars that led to the historic convergence of exchange rates in the country in 2006.
“Thus, contrary to the impression created by the CBN, BDCs are not the problem of the foreign exchange market, rather they are solutions to deep rooted problems in the market namely activities of illegal foreign exchange operators and the wide gap between the official and the parallel market exchange rates. And they have performed creditably well in these regards. He explained that while there are over 3000 licensed BDCs, how many of them does the CBN sell dollars to on a weekly basis?” he asked.
He added: “In the last one month, the CBN has been rationing dollar sales to BDCs, with less than half accessing the dollar windows. The Governor should have stated how much dollars the CBN actually sold to BDCs on an annual basis rather than estimating how much is been sold. For example, in 2014, according to the quarterly economic reports of the CBN, the CBN sold $4.4 billion to BDCs while it sold $43.65 billion to banks through the Retail Dutch Auction. This reveals that out of the $48.09 billion sold by the CBN, less than 10 per cent was sold to BDCs.”
Gwadabe said the decision of the CBN to stop dollar sales to BDCs has grave implications for the economy.
“First is the spike in the parallel market exchange rate from N270 to over N290 per dollar within three days of its pronouncement. Over time this would lead to increased scarcity of dollars even for legitimate activities and further depreciation of the naira,” he said.
Adding: “Given the import dependency of the country and the inability of importers to access dollars in the official market, the increased exchange rate would aggravate the inflationary pressure in the economy, as prices of goods and services rise in response to the continued depreciation of the naira.”
Federal Ministry of Finance has halted enforcement of about N680 million in disputed fees imposed by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) on NICON Insurance Limited and Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation (Nig Re) as part of the ongoing insurance industry recapitalisation exercise.
The Ministry also directed NAICOM to suspend its demand that the two companies transfer their entire recapitalisation funds into an escrow account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), pending determination of a petition challenging the legality of the charges and the directive.
The intervention followed a July 27, 2026 petition by NICON and Nig Re over what they described as unlawful fees and regulatory demands arising from the implementation of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025.
In a letter to the Commissioner for Insurance, Raymond Omachi, permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, on behalf of Taiwo Oyedele, minister of Finance and coordinating minister of the Economy, requested that NAICOM provide a detailed response and legal justification for the disputed requirements.
The Ministry specifically directed the Commission to suspend enforcement of the contested processing and verification fees, the one per cent Capital Injection Fee, and the directive requiring the companies to transfer their full recapitalisation funds to a CBN escrow account.
The dispute centres on NAICOM’s assessment of a one per cent fee on capital injected by operators, alongside additional processing and verification charges prescribed under Appendix 2 of the Commission’s Minimum Capital Requirement Guidelines.
According to the petition, the combined assessments amounted to N305 million for NICON and N375 million for Nig Re, bringing the disputed charges to N680 million.
The companies are also challenging what they described as an unconstitutional requirement to transfer more than the statutory proportion of their recapitalisation funds to the CBN.
They contend that Section 16(3) of NIIRA 2025 provides for a 10 per cent statutory deposit, and not the transfer of the entire capital injection into an escrow account.
The companies told the Ministry that they had already met the July 31, 2026 recapitalisation deadline.
NICON said it injected N420 billion, while Nig Re injected N30 billion into Mudaraba Term Deposit accounts with Lotus Bank Limited. The companies maintained that the amounts exceeded their adjusted recapitalisation requirements of N16 billion and N28 billion, respectively.
They further stated that they had deposited N42.5 billion and N43.5 billion respectively with the CBN, in compliance with the statutory deposit requirement under Section 16(3) of the new law.
The companies also disclosed that they had made initial payments of N480 million and N75 million, respectively, in fees.
The Finance Ministry’s directive effectively places the disputed charges and escrow requirement on hold while NAICOM is expected to justify the legal and regulatory basis for its actions.
The intervention could have wider implications for the insurance industry’s recapitalisation programme, particularly as operators face regulatory deadlines to strengthen their capital base under the new insurance law.
The controversy also raises questions about the extent to which regulatory guidelines can impose additional financial obligations on operators beyond those expressly provided for under the enabling legislation.
NAICOM is now expected to respond to the Ministry’s request and explain the statutory basis for the one per cent capital injection fee, the additional processing and verification charges, and the requirement for the full capital injection to be transferred into a CBN escrow account.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched a nationwide awareness campaign aimed at helping investors and beneficiaries recover unclaimed dividends and inherited investments, as part of efforts to strengthen investor protection and reduce the volume of dormant assets in Nigeria’s capital market.
The initiative, unveiled in Abuja through the Probate/Unclaimed Monies Awareness and Investor Clinic, seeks to educate investors, beneficiaries and estate executors on probate procedures, estate administration and the processes involved in accessing financial assets left behind by deceased relatives.
Speaking at the event, Dr Emomotimi Agama, the Director-General of the SEC, said the Commission was addressing a long-standing challenge that had prevented many families from accessing investments belonging to deceased relatives.
Agama said many beneficiaries face difficulties obtaining probate, letters of administration, death certificates and other documents required to claim shares, dividends and other financial assets.
“For many Nigerian families, the death of a loved one who held shares, dividends or other investments marks the beginning of a long and often confusing journey,” he said.
According to him, the complexity surrounding estate administration often leaves beneficiaries unable to access legitimate investments and other financial assets inherited from deceased relatives.
He described unclaimed dividends and dormant assets as a major concern for the Nigerian capital market, noting that the funds represent money that should be benefiting families but remains idle because beneficiaries are unable to access them.
“Across our market, unclaimed dividends and dormant assets represent real money—money that belongs to real families, sitting idle, disconnected from the people it was meant to serve,” Agama said.
The SEC DG said the Commission was committed to bridging the gap through policy reforms, investor education and sustained engagement with investors, beneficiaries and other stakeholders in the capital market.
He stressed the importance of ensuring that investors and their families were adequately informed about the procedures for documenting, preserving and transferring financial assets to beneficiaries.
Agama said the awareness campaign would also provide an avenue for members of the public to better understand probate processes and the requirements for recovering unclaimed monies and inherited investments.
Also speaking, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of Meristem Registrars and Probate Services Limited, Ms Nkechinyelu Okoye, identified poor awareness and inadequate estate planning as major factors contributing to the accumulation of unclaimed financial assets.
Okoye said some beneficiaries were unaware that financial assets such as shares and dividends formed part of a deceased person’s estate, while others did not know that their deceased relatives had investments in the capital market.
She added that some beneficiaries were also unfamiliar with the documentation and legal procedures required to establish their entitlement and successfully claim the assets.
According to her, these challenges often result in financial assets remaining unclaimed for extended periods, even when legitimate beneficiaries are available.
The initiative is expected to improve public awareness of probate and estate administration procedures while helping more families identify and recover investments and other financial assets belonging to them.
It is also part of broader efforts to reduce the volume of unclaimed dividends and dormant assets in the capital market and ensure that funds belonging to investors and their beneficiaries are returned to their rightful owners.
Debt Management Office (DMO) said the federal government spent N3.14 trillion on servicing its domestic debt in the first quarter of 2026.
The office disclosed the data in its latest domestic debt service report for Q1 2026.
The figure comprises N2.97 trillion in interest payments and N169.68 billion in principal repayments.
The agency said in January, the government spent N741.82 billion on domestic debt service, while the figure rose to N967.67 billion in February.
Debt service increased further to N1.43 trillion in March, bringing the total for the quarter to N3.14 trillion.
The March figure was 47.7 percent higher than the N967.67 billion recorded in February and 92.7 percent above the N741.82 billion spent in January.
Also, the debt office said interest payments accounted for about 94.6 percent of total domestic debt service during the quarter.
The DMO said treasury bills accounted for the largest share of interest payments at N1 trillion, while interest on federal government bonds stood at N1.96 trillion.
The agency said the government also paid N4.24 billion in interest on FGN savings bonds during the period.
The DMO said the principal component of the debt service comprised N169.68 billion in repayments on local-denominated promissory notes.
Overall, the government’s domestic debt service rose sharply through the quarter, with March accounting for almost half of the N3.14 trillion spent between January and March.
Nigeria’s public debt increased by 0.01 percent to N159.35 trillion in the Q1 of 2026.
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