Aboki FX Resumes Black Market Rate Publication Two Years After CBN Ban

Aboki FX, an online foreign exchange rate aggregator has resumed publication of black-market rates after it was banned by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2021.

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Checks showed Aboki FX resumed black-market rate publication on July 7, 2023 and the last rate published was on July 11, 2023.

The development is coming weeks after the suspension of CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele who had announced the ban.

On September 17, 2021, Emefiele at the Monetary Policy Meeting of the CBN accused the publisher of the platform, Oniwinde Adedotun, of illegal forex trading.

“He and the company have over 25 bank accounts with about eight banks in both naira and dollar with significant turnover also showing him simply milking the system through speculative activities on the Naira and collecting his proceeds in cash through a particular ATM in London,” Emefiele had alleged.

Before the ban, the naira was trading at N520/dollar on the black market but devalued to N570 a day after it was banned.

Aboki FX in a statement dated September 17, 2021, replied the apex bank saying it hopes its suspension of daily rate would save the naira at the unofficial market by next week.

The fallout between both parties became public when the CBN led by Emefiele accused the website of manipulating the foreign exchange market through fraudulent activities.

Emefiele, accused the founder of the website who is a London-based Nigerian of carrying out “nefarious and criminal activity on our economy.”

But Aboki FX denied all allegations leveled against it by the apex Bank.

Based on its new daily rates, the Naira has depreciated to N800 against the dollar as of 11th of July, 2023 while the Pounds and Euro traded for N1020 and N860 respectively against the Naira.