Economic and financial think tanks have said the continuous devaluation of the Nigerian Naira threatens the livelihood of Nigerians and the economy as a whole.
This was after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) removed the N379/$1 exchange rate from its website last week. Signaling another devaluation of the local currency.
Prof Ovie Ogidiaka, who spoke on the matter, explained that devaluation limits the purchasing power of the people, increases the cost of production and weakens the value of the Naira. Therefore, he said the apex bank had been doing the nation a disfavour by devaluing the Naira.
He said, “We don’t need this. The CBN has never done us right with respect to that. I remember when we first started with devaluation, it was during Babangida’s regime. He was forced to devalue the naira, and even till now, we are still suffering the consequences of what he did. Ever since then, the naira has constantly been devalued.
“Devaluation comes when you want to borrow from multilateral and bilateral committees. These are some of the conditions they give to you to make your currency useless, limit your purchasing power and make you constantly want to depend on them.”
Dr Samuel Nzekwe also stated similar thing, saying the prices of goods had been on the rise since the apex bank first devalued the Naira.
This is largely due to Nigeria’s overdependent on import goods in spite of its weak foreign revenue generation and local manufacturing sector. Businesses in the manufacturing and other sectors relied mainly on CBN for forex while the apex bank relied on crude oil sales for dollar revenue.
However, the plunged in crude oil and OPEC oil production cap weighed on Nigeria’s ability to sustain dollar revenue generation necessary to service its economy.