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Osinbajo reads riot act to CBN, Finance Ministry on naira value

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Why recovering stolen funds is difficult --Osinbajo

Worried by persistent fall in value of the Nigerian currency, the naira, which lost more than 90 per cent value in 2016, the Presidency has given both the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Finance Ministry some marching orders to shore up the currency within the first quarter of 2017.

Naira, has since December 2016 been exchanging at N490 per dollar in the unofficial rate, while exchanging at N315 at the interbank rate, contrary to CBN efforts at closing the gap between both rates.

It could be recalled that CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele and Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, have been on a war path over policies that will see Nigeria exit the recession, which has been responsible for the free fall of the naira.

The faceoff between the duo, at a point attracted the attention of the Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, who waded in to save government from the embarrassment the development was causing.

But Ripples Nigeria gathered that Osinbajo, acting on his capacity as the coordinator of the Federal Government’s economic team, has given the principal officials two months within which to put policies in place to bridge the wide gap between official and parallel markets of the foreign exchange.

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A Presidency source said: “Before the VP traveled for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday, he had summoned management of CBN and top senior staff of the Ministry, led by their heads, for debriefing on government concern over the wide gap in naira exchange”, adding that the development was unacceptable to the government.

He said the VP’s meeting with the officials, which lasted into the late hours of Monday, saw the attendees exchanging ideas and making promises on how to approach the issue for results.

Dr. Solomon Emezon a senior Business Administration lecturer said until more investors come into the country, nothing would make naira pick up value over dollar.

But Osinbajo was quoted as having insisted that government was losing patience over non workability of all known ideas of non use of the parallel market rate as the functional exchange rate of the naira.

The CBN recently reversed its earlier policy of arresting the BDC operators, whom it held responsible for the loss in value of the local currency, but the promise by the operators to abide with any measures aimed at shoring up the local currency is yet to yield result.

 

 

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0 Comments

  1. Johnson Amadi

    January 19, 2017 at 3:57 pm

    “orders to shore up the currency within the first quarter of 2017…” even magicians cannot make it happen. This is what I’ve always been saying, this government is a fallacy.

    • JOHNSON PETER

      January 19, 2017 at 7:37 pm

      Watch and see if it can happens or not.
      To do that is so easy.it is just to regulate import and export promotions but particularly import.
      Stringent Policies will be implemented especially for foreign goods which will devalue dollar to strengthen naira.

      • Joy Madu

        January 19, 2017 at 7:57 pm

        When you make stringent policies against foreign goods, then Nigeria should forget about borrowing money from IMF or World bank.

  2. Animashaun Ayodeji

    January 19, 2017 at 4:03 pm

    I would have said Osinbajo being a professor of law knows nothing about how to fix economy of a country, but on the second thought, Law can be used as an instrument of change to keep a country together, Osinbajo’s professionalism will definitely be needed here. He’s the best person to serve as coordinator of the Federal Government’s economic team

    • Balarabe musa

      January 19, 2017 at 7:54 pm

      In short ,the only thing to shore up the currency within the first quarter of 2017 is law, good monetary laws that will help our naira. So Osinbajo is the right person to head the economy team.

      • chichi emerue

        January 19, 2017 at 8:00 pm

        Then we have wrong people heading CBN and the finance ministry. We need to replace those two.

  3. Oluwasegun Ayo

    January 19, 2017 at 4:50 pm

    Same story no action, the government should start by having a single exchange rate nation wide instead of a dual market. Until some is done about the BDC and CBN rates differentials, nothing will work

    • yanju omotodun

      January 19, 2017 at 7:39 pm

      You are right but Bureau De Change is very important as well in forex market. So the only thing is strong measure from CBN.

  4. chichi emerue

    January 19, 2017 at 8:02 pm

    Ben Murray Bruce move concerning making naira stronger is working indeed.

  5. Roland Uchendu Pele

    January 19, 2017 at 9:11 pm

    The Vice President can say all he wants, CBN chair and Finance minister cannot possibly perform magic. The best they can do is what they’ve shown so far.

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