Nairabot on Facebook Messenger gives Daily Exchange Rates

Nairabot your online exchange rate ‘mallam’

Nairabot is an exchange rate bot on Facebook Messenger. It was built by Fowotade Babajide. Fowotade Babajide also known as Jihdeh is a 23 year old Yaba based developer.

Jason Njoku in his post “Zuck and The Rise of the Bots” introduces  Jihdeh’s bot as a “primitive but awesome way to get daily FX price updates. All in messenger. There are 18m people on Facebook in Nigeria. The future.”

Jihdeh is said to have created this bot in a couple of nights while working a full time job.

How is this bot an important tool?  After all CBN publishes exchange rates. Is the bot not  just an imitation of something that already exists?

No it  is not!

This bot does not just give you the exchange rates published by CBN but it gives you the exchange rates on the street. The exchange rates quoted by ‘mallams’ who buy and sell foreign currencies at major bus stops or outside a Bureau de Change. The men who do this are called ‘mallam’. “The prices these “mallams” quote are the best representation of any currency’s value, because they are completely market-driven: something is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it.” says Techcabal

This idea is mirrored by the Nairabot’s mascot who has on the cap worn by these ‘mallams’.

To use Nairabot you do not need to install an app. All that is required for you to do is visit facebook.com/nairabot, input your query and Nairabot replies in minutes.