BDC Operators Clampdown : The Nigerian State Chasing The Shadow 

The Nigerian state is always reactive and chasing the shadows. Going after the Bureau De Change, BDC operators is a wrong approach and the wrong antidote to the diagnosis. 

SaharaReporters earlier reported how Nigerian security operatives including EFCC officials on Wednesday raided some Bureau De Change outlets in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and arrested over 100 operators as the country’s currency slipped further.

The National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu on Tuesday, directed operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, the EFCC, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) to go after forex market speculators as part of measures to stem volatility in the foreign exchange market.

Ribadu, in a statement by Zakari Mijinyawa, Head, Strategic Communications in the Office of the NSA, said the office had to wade in at this time because some individuals and organisations had continued to undermine proactive measures of the Central Bank of Nigeria to stabilise the foreign exchange market and stimulate economic activities.

The BDC operators are not the biggest culprits in the value chain of the naira depreciation or that of the dollar appreciation.

The state actors are the biggest culprits and CBN knows this fact. Once allocations are shared most states approach the banks to procure dollars, the Nigerian state budget is benchmarked in dollars and during election circles dollars are everywhere by top political parties to prosecute elections.

Security authorities and EFCC didn’t think it wise to go after these culprits but went after small flies. Anyways, the state will always have a role that will in the long run benefit or protest the interest of the dominant class and no wonder the state is nothing but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie.

Little wonder, Ake noted that:
The state is a specific modality of class domination, one in which domination is mediated by commodity exchange so that the system of institutional mechanism of domination is differentiated and disassociated from the ruling class and even the society appears as an objective force standing alongside society (Ake,
1985,p 1).

If you know you know. Fela sang it long ago, “ Na paddy paddy govment”.  Nigeria is driven by false narratives and little we aren’t going forward. The only thing growing and moving is underdevelopment( Ake).

Going forward,  if  the  Nigerian state means well , those managing it must rejig state’s approach to economic governance, highlighting systemic issues such as corruption, elite capture, and misplaced priorities. It calls for a reevaluation of economic policies and institutional practices to address the underlying causes of Nigeria’s economic challenges and foster inclusive development.