Federal High Court in Lagos has sentenced a bureau de change (BDC) operator, Dabo Ardi, to two months’ imprisonment for conducting foreign exchange transactions outside the official market.
Justice F.N. Ogazi convicted Ardi on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to a one-count charge brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The court, however, granted him an option of an ₦80,000 fine in place of the jail term.
According to a statement issued by the EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, Ardi was prosecuted for engaging in unauthorised foreign exchange dealings.
The charge alleged that sometime in 2026 in Lagos, Ardi carried out foreign exchange transactions outside the official foreign exchange market, in violation of Section 11(1)(a) of the National Economic Intelligence Committee (Establishment, etc.) Act, 1994, and punishable under Section 11(2) of the same legislation.
When the charge was read before the court, Ardi pleaded guilty.
Following his plea, EFCC counsel, S.I. Suleiman, presented the facts of the case and urged the court to convict and sentence him in accordance with the law.
Justice Ogazi subsequently found Ardi guilty and sentenced him to two months’ imprisonment, with an option of paying an ₦80,000 fine.
The conviction adds to a growing number of cases involving BDC operators prosecuted by the EFCC before the Federal High Court in Lagos for carrying out foreign exchange transactions outside the authorised market.
On July 31, Justice Akintayo Aluko of the same court sentenced four BDC operators — Umar Muhammad Lamido, Yusuf Musa Yusuf, Abdulmuhimin Mahmud and Muhammed Musa — to 12 months’ imprisonment each for similar offences.
The four operators were also given an option of ₦100,000 fine each after pleading guilty to separate one-count charges filed by the EFCC under Section 11(1)(a) of the 1994 Act.
In a related case, another BDC operator, Faruk Umar, was convicted in 2025 by Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court in Lagos.
Umar was sentenced in February 2025 to six months’ imprisonment, with an option of a ₦50,000 fine, after the EFCC accused him of engaging in foreign exchange trading without approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The EFCC said Umar was arrested in August 2024 around the Eko Hotel area of Victoria Island, Lagos, alongside other suspected illegal BDC operators.
During proceedings, an EFCC investigating officer, Hamisu Sanni, told the court that Umar admitted to buying and selling foreign currency without a valid CBN licence.
The court was also informed that forensic analysis of Umar’s phone uncovered more than 40 conversations linked to foreign exchange transactions with other individuals.
Justice Aneke subsequently ordered the forfeiture of Umar’s phone to the Federal Government.
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