Dollar crashes, sells for N310 at streets market

The Naira is gradually regaining its value at the Bureau De Change market as it exchanged at N310 to the dollar yesterday.
Checks by our correspondent at the Zone 4, Abuja bureau de change market showed that the operators were buying at N310 to one dollar from walk-in customers as against the about N400 last week.
However the BDCs were still selling at N360 to customers willing to buy. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) official rate is still N199.50 to the dollar. 
Speaking to our correspondent on the matter, the acting Chairman, North Central Chairman of the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) Alh. Shehu Mahmud said the naira went crashing lately at the streets market largely due to activities of speculators.
According to him, when ABCON realized that, it has taken measures to ensure the value of the naira is restored further. 
Alh. Shehu who is also the Managing Director/CEO Fortune Bureau de Change Ltd said to “show the government that ABCON are patriotic people who love this country, we advised our members to stop buying forex from even walk-in customers because the rates were speculative and we stopped. A lot of our members have not been buying and selling in the past three weeks. This is actually what drove the rate down to about N360 initially” he said. 
He explained that the BDC operators are buying at N310 and selling at N370. “We are doing so because if we buy higher, we may lose our money. So we crashed the price to also break even. But if you want to buy, you will buy at N370 or N375. It was that action of ABCON that brought down the price but this is still not good enough. We will go lower”, he said. 
Meanwhile, the Association of Bureau De Change of Nigeria (ABCON)  have said its members are not responsible for the devaluation of the naira against the dollar that as currently witnessed at the parallel market.
The president of the association, Aminu Gwadabe  in a news briefing yesterday in Lagos said: “with the intense scarcity of the dollar in the market, the rate is largely determined by sellers and not by Bureau de change (BDCs), we are largely resellers and what we get as margin is a function of the rate we buy” 
The free fall of the naira against the dollar hit an all-time high by exchanging for N400/ $ last week but appreciated to N375/ $ by Monday following the president’s defiance on the devaluation of the currency.
Gwadabe said: “the stance of the President Buhari is helping to clear the doubt in the forex market.  What we are experiencing is not a realistic rate but a passive rate brought about as a result of rush by people to stock the dollar for long term activities to avoid the effect of further depreciation.