By Daniel Tyokua
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has promised to rid off the Bureau De Change (BDC) of financial crimes and other ill activities in territory.
In a statement issued on Sunday, by the Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement to the minister of FCT, Ikharo Attah said the planned purge follows the growing concerns from the public over BDC operators purported involvement in financial crimes.
The crimes include money laundering, economic sabotage and terrorism financing, among others.
Ikharo, after a meeting with BDC leaders, explained that the action became necessary following an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) letter, requesting the FCTA to bring sanity and global best practices to their activities in order to tackle criminal activities arising from their operations.
The Minister’s aide, revealed that the EFCC requests that , “Adequate arrangements should be made for them to operate with registered office address in line with provisions of law and international best practices to curtail economic sabotage, money laundering and possibly terrorist financing.
“The Minister gave us order to sanitize activities of BDC currency operators within the FCT, particularly with a focus on Wuse Zone 4, so that we do everything to curtail economic sabotage and tackle the issue of money laundering and possible illegal financing”.
Ikharo who stated that the BDC operators were an important stakeholder in the forex market, however, warned that the FCTA would not allowed them continue hawking currency by the roadside, “You can operate properly and we run the city beautifully”.
While pointing out that section 8.5 of the revised operational guidelines for Bureau De Change in Nigeria aligns with anti-hawking policy of the FCT, “FCTA is not comfortable with hawking of currencies on the road in Zone 4”.
He therefore thanked the operators for believing in Abuja and for supporting the FCTA in her quests to keep the city clean up the city and fight against drug peddling.
