COURT JAILS TWO NIGERIAN BDC OPERATORS FIVE YEARS OVER UNLICENSED FOREX BUSINESS
The Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced two Bureau de Change operators to five years in prison each for conducting foreign exchange business without valid licences from the Central Bank of...
- EFCC prosecution exposes regulatory risks of operating outside Nigeria’s formal foreign exchange framework
The Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced two Bureau de Change operators to five years in prison each for conducting foreign exchange business without valid licences from the Central Bank of Nigeria, in a ruling that underscores the growing compliance risks facing unregulated players in Nigeria’s forex market.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu convicted Isah Sulaiman, who operated as Sly Exclusive Multi Concept, and Aminu Abdullahi, alongside Ninext Multi-Ventures Ltd., following prosecutions brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The defendants had pleaded guilty and entered plea bargain arrangements with the EFCC. However, the court rejected a proposed one-year sentence in one of the cases, holding that it was inconsistent with the punishment prescribed under the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act 2020.
The court subsequently imposed five-year prison terms, with an option of a N2 million fine for each convict
Abdullahi and Ninext Multi-Ventures were accused of operating without a CBN licence between July 2021 and April 2026 in Abuja.
The convictions carry a broader compliance warning for Nigeria’s foreign exchange sector. Operating a BDC is not simply a commercial activity. It places operators within a regulated financial ecosystem with licensing, reporting and supervisory obligations.
The enforcement action also signals increasing pressure on informal and unlicensed forex channels as the CBN seeks to strengthen oversight of BDCs and channel foreign exchange transactions through authorised market participants.
For operators, the message is increasingly direct: regulatory approval is not an administrative formality. It is the legal gateway to participation in Nigeria’s formal foreign exchange market.
The case also reinforces the exposure businesses face when they treat licensing requirements as secondary to commercial opportunity.
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