Why dollar may crash to N200, says EFCC Chairman

The ongoing redesign of the naira, according to Abdulrasheed Bawa, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, may cause the dollar to fall below N200.

Recall that in order to reduce money hoarding and counterfeiting in the nation, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, had revealed plans to redesign the N200, N500, and N1,000 notes.

The decision by the apex bank was met with conflicting responses in the aftermath, with some claiming that it would have a negative effect on the economy.

However, in an interview with Radio Deutsche Welle, DW, Hausa Service, on Wednesday, the EFCC chairman stated that the move has begun to produce the desired results.

Mr. Bawa also praised President Muhammadu Buhari for his approval of the redesign.

In his words: “The law says the redesigning of naira notes should be done every eight years but we spent 20 years without any changes on them.

“And that resulted to 85 per cent of money are in circulation not in banks, when CBN came up with this redesigning, dollar moved to 880 and later dropped to 680 or thereabouts.

“So you see with this redesigning dollar may massively fall, who knows probably to ₦200.”

The EFCC chair also dismissed claims in some quarters that the move was an attempt to cripple opposition parties in Nigeria ahead of the 2023 general elections.

“Is it only the opposition that votes during elections? Everybody votes during elections, and there is no political motive behind this; some people siphoned and hid public funds that is why we want them to bring them out.

“And nobody says they should not bring them, what the government says is let them deposit such money in banks.

“We assure Nigerians that we are always ready to receive reports of any person with suspicious hidden money, and if investigated and found to be true, we will give 5 percent of the money to them,” he added.