Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The Senate has asked the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, to urgently take steps to prevent the Naira from further falling against the United States Dollar in the foreign exchange (forex) market.
At the plenary on Wednesday, the upper chamber of the National Assembly expressed serious concerns over the rate the value of the domestic currency was depleting fast against its foreign peers, especially in the parallel market.
Business Post earlier reported today that the local currency was trading against its American counterpart at N705/$1 in the black market and the Senate fumed at this, saying it was unacceptable for the Nigerian legal tender to cross the N700/$1 mark.
The federal lawmakers have now summoned Mr Emefiele to brief them on actions he and his monetary policy team are taking to save the Naira from total collapse.
A Senator from Ekiti State, Mr Olubunmi Adetunmbi, who was among those worried about the situation, moved a motion, asking his colleagues to rise up to salvage the situation.
His colleague from Ekiti State, Mrs Biodun Olujimi, while contributing to the motion, blamed the central bank for the FX crisis in the country.
“Most of what is happening is because people are taking out the dollar and selling and bringing them back in — we should be penalising somebody for what has happened to the naira-dollar rate.
“The time has come for us to look holistically into what is happening. What is happening to the dollar is a replica of what is happening to Nigeria.”
“Someone should be able to say I have failed, and that is the CBN,” she submitted.
On his part, Senator Sani Musa said nothing much can be done to save the local currency if the country fails to be productive and consume what it produces and not rely on foreign products.
“Let’s eat what we have; let’s do with what we have. Naira will continue to appreciate until we start manufacturing,” the lawmaker declared.
