The foreign exchange traders at the popular WAPA Forex Market in Kano have limited the period of time for buying and selling of the foreign currencies in the market to only six hours a day as a way of boosting the value of the local currency (Naira).
The marketers have now imposed a six-hour trading period for buying and selling of currencies in the forex market, which begins at 12pm and ends 6pm daily.
Explaining the purpose of taking the measure to LEADERSHIP on Thursday, the chairman of the forex market, Alhaji Sani Dada, said it has become pertinent to initiate such measure due to several reasons that include scarcity of US Dollars.
He announced that the measure has since raised the value of Naira, which has moved from N1,537 per Dollar to N1,400 per Dollar, thereby making the Naira appreciate by over N100.
He also denied that the Bureau de Change (BDC) operators were on strike over the forex situation in the country even as he called on the Federal Government to quickly initiate monetary policies that will boost the Naira.
“No, it’s not true, we are not on strike, we are not public employees that would go on strike to protest some government decisions. What we have done is that we have reduced the period of time for transactions in the market.
“This is necessitated by the way some costumers delay transactions due to available time. But now that the time is limited, they will hurriedly come and make their transactions and make the market more active.
“This will also provide opportunity for those who trade forex to strike their deals in good time. There is a scarcity of dollars in the market, that is why we have to reduce the period of transaction.
“However, it should be noted that our forex market here does not sell only Dollars, we also sell other foreign currencies. As such we cannot shut down our activities because of the scarcity of Dollars.
“People come from neighbouring countries to this market to change their currencies and enter the markets to buy goods. Hence, if we close down our forex market, it will be as if we have closed down businesses in Kano markets.
“We will now open our market by 12pm and close by 6pm daily until further notice. By this action, we are letting the public know that this is our operating period,” Dada clarified.
Speaking on how the move would affect the market, the BDC chairman explained that the step has been very effective to have even forced the price of Dollar down in favour of the Naira.
“By simply taking this measure, the Dollar rate has reduced by over N100. It’s not like people are hoarding the Dollar, no, it is such that those who want to change the Dollar delay the process by coming very late because of availability of time. This slows down the market activities.
“But now that the trading time is limited, both buyers and sellers will have to transact within the stipulated period. This will ease buying and selling. This further proves that we are not hoarding the currency, because if we are hoarding it, we will only buy it and hide. But people are buying and selling within the stipulated period.
“We want the public to understand that this situation is not our making. It is a general situation and we have contributed our part by trying to enhance the value of our local currency.
“We call on the government to bring about policies that will ease the situation for the people as it knows best what to do. It is only the government that has Dollars and it should make it available to the market to ease operations. If the government authorises the CBN to provide those who need the Dollar, they know how to do it. We call on them to make the currency available,” he stated.
