A year after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) effectively criminalized the actions of Aboki FX and accused it of “economic sabotage”, the Naira has lost 25% of its value.

AbokiFX functioned as a benchmark by which anyone in Nigeria could calculate the price of naira on the black market. The CBN disapproved of these actions and accused the company of currency manipulation at a time of rapid depreciation of the naira.

When Aboki FX stopped publishing exchange rates on September 17, 2021, the Naira was trading around N/$570; a year later, the Naira had fallen to around N/$710. This represents a drop of 25% in one year.

Past

• AbokiFX is a well-known website that previously published the parallel market exchange rate of the naira against other currencies on a daily basis. Most forex traders are familiar with the currency aggregation website to help determine the exchange rate rather than relying on BDC traders who sometimes give disparate prices.
• Everything changed when Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele surprised Nigerians during his monetary policy briefing on September 17, 2021, by accusing AbokiFX of foreign exchange manipulation, implying that he benefited from the setting black market rates that deliberately drove up the price.
• Mr. Emefiele reiterated that their preliminary findings suggest that the website was built and is being used solely for currency manipulation and speculation purposes. “They get loans in naira, use them to buy dollars, take a position, change the rate over a period of time, sell the dollars they bought and make a profit, this is completely illegal, unacceptable and we will prosecute them “, he explained.
• The CBN Governor said: “This is economic sabotage and we will pursue it wherever it is, we will report it to international security agencies, we will hunt it down. Mr. Oniwinde, we will find you, because we cannot allow you to carry on a illegal activity that is killing our economy.
• Consequently, the owner of the website, Mr. Olumide Oniwinde, issued a press release categorically refuting the allegations and suspended the display of exchange rates on the platform pending the settlement of the case.
• He said, “AbokiFX has made the decision today, September 17, 2021, to temporarily suspend rate updates across all of our platforms until we get better clarity on the situation.”

What AbokiFX says

In a recent tweet, AbokiFX sent a friendly reminder to the public suggesting that they played no part in the Naira’s free fall despite the numerous accusations.

Aboki FX tweeted, “September 17, 2021. N570, September 17, 2022. N710. It’s been 366 days. -25%.”

“At this time last year, we suspended the publication of rates to test the impact on the parallel market exchange rate. A further decline of 25% was recorded”, he added.

What you should know

• The Central Bank’s crackdown on the owner of AbokiFX was aimed at protecting the naira from a savage and continued collapse blamed on speculation.
• Therefore, it should be noted that the black market experienced temporary stability for about 3 weeks after AbokiFX stopped providing exchange rates. Nonetheless, the success was short-lived as the Naira is currently experiencing a double-digit drop a year later.

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