The Senate on Wednesday passed a motion
directing the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin
Emefiele, to appear before it to brief members on the state of the
nation’s economy, especially the alarming naira depreciation.
The upper chamber gave the directive
after an exhaustive debate on a motion moved by Senator Nazfiz Suleiman
(Bauchi North) entitled: ‘The state of the economy: Naira depreciation
and its implications’.
The senators also urged the Federal
Government to step up efforts to diversify the nation’s economy to
depend on taxation, agriculture, manufacturing, international tourism
and solid mineral prospecting. Suleiman had in his lead debate noted
with serious concern the state of the nation’s economy as it affected
the continuous depreciation of the naira.
He expressed worry that naira had
depreciated in the last few months at a much faster rate than it
appreciated over the last two years.
The
senator further argued that the depreciation was the consequence of the
negative cash flow, which he said resulted from the downward trend of
oil prices.
He added that the situation had been worsened by speculations in the foreign exchange market.
Suleiman also observed that the foreign
exchange needs of various sectors of the economy were not being made
available, while Nigeria’s commitments in the global economy had
dwindled.
The senator also expressed concern that
the Nigerian banking industry might be currently defaulting in the
global economy, stressing that the situation had been sending a wrong
signal about the state of the economy.
Suleiman also said the speculation caused
by the situation was resulting in a huge capital flight, with the
attendant inflationary consequence, which he said would affect an
average Nigerian on the street.
“The illicit fund flows and money
laundering going through Nigerian financial system contribute in
weakening the value of the naira, which has made the recent decisions of
CBN to increase its vigilance to ensure that Nigeria banks are not used
as conduit for illicit fund flow and money laundering in foreign
currencies,” he said.
He stressed the need to regulate the
demand and supply of foreign exchange by the CBN with various options in
order to curtail naira depreciation and discourage speculation.
In his contribution, the Minority Whip,
Senator Philip Aduda, blamed the downward slide in the value of naira on
the inability of the Federal Government to put in place stable economic
policies.
Senator Gbolahan Dada (Ogun West) said if
the situation must be effectively tackled, Nigeria must define its
economic policies and make laws that would address fraud.
He lamented that the country’s dependence
on imported items without tangible production had been the bane of a
stable naira exchange rate.
Senate President, Bukola Saraki, said all
powers must be deployed to defend the naira and that the influx of
foreign items into the country must be adequately curtailed in a way
that the activities of currency speculators would be brought under
control.
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