"The rate is dropping...and traders are afraid to even buy the dollar from people as we speak," a trader who declined to have his name in print told PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday.
The naira gained marginally against the United States dollar at the unauthorised market on Tuesday, barely 24 hours after President Bola Tinubu met with the acting governor of the central bank, Folashodun Shonubi.
According to information gathered from currency traders across the country on Tuesday afternoon, the dollar exchanged against the local unit at N900.00 and N925.00 as against the N935.00 to N950.00 range it traded on Monday.
Traders who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday attributed the market reaction to the President's meeting with the CBN governor on Monday.
This, they said, allayed fears among the black market traders who claimed that the government plans to address the country's currency crisis and stabilise the rate to as low as N750/$1 in the coming weeks.
"We don't know how the market will close today. We are hearing that the government wants to drop the rate to N750/$1 at the black market," a dealer at the Abuja Zone 4 axis, said.
Market rates
In Lagos on Tuesday, currency traders around the Ikeja axis said the dollar exchanged at N920.00 as against N945.00 on Monday.
"The rate is dropping seriously and traders are afraid to even buy the dollar from people as we speak," a trader who declined to have his name in print in Lagos said.
During a visit to Zone 4 axis in Abuja, PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the dollar is being traded at N925.00 and below, as against N935.00 in the previous session on Monday.
"The currency started dropping after the CBN governor made some announcements yesterday evening. Many traders are afraid to buy the dollar from customers at the moment because they may lose money," a dealer who identified himself simply as 'Wireless' told PREMIUM TIMES.
Similarly, currency traders at Uyo Udi Street said the dollar rate began to drop Tuesday morning amidst sentiment that government's intervention may bring down the rate.
The dealers said the currency is being exchanged at N920.00 per dollar as against N938.00 and above it was traded on Monday.
"We are afraid to buy the dollar at the moment. It is dropping seriously," a dealer who gave his name as Shaibu told this newspaper.
The sharp gain in the exchange rate of the local currency became evident after Mr Shonubi disclosed that Mr Tinubu is worried about the rising exchange rate of the naira to the dollar.
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He explained that plans and strategy to curb the crashing naira on the black market are underway and would begin to take effect sooner than later.
"Some of the plans and strategies, which I'm not at liberty to share with you, means sooner rather than later, the speculators should be careful because we believe the things we're doing when they come to fruition may result in significant losses to them," the acting CBN governor said while briefing journalists after the meeting at the State House Abuja.
Three months ago, amidst efforts to unify market rates, Nigeria allowed the value of the naira to drop by 36 per cent in order to find convergence for its multiple exchange rates and close the gap between the official rate and that of the parallel market.
Last Friday, the naira hit an all-time low of about N950 to a dollar at the parallel market, raising fears that the currency could hit N1000/$1 in the coming days amidst forex scarcity and soaring demands.
At the official market (I&E window), FMDQ market data posted on Monday showed that the Naira closed at N744.41 as against N740.60 per $1 recorded last week Friday.
