SaharaReporters on Sunday reported that Atiku claimed that the unification of the exchange rate was hurriedly implemented by President Tinubu without any plans and proper consultations.
The Presidency has tackled former Vice Atiku Abubakar over his criticism of the foreign exchange policy of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
The Special Adviser to the President on Information & Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement issued on Sunday said that Atiku’s alternative of a controlled floatation of the Naira is similar to the policy of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, when an estimated $1.5 billion was spent monthly to shore up the Naira, while arbitrage or round-tripping went on unhindered.
SaharaReporters on Sunday reported that Atiku claimed that the unification of the exchange rate was hurriedly implemented by President Tinubu without any plans and proper consultations.
Shortly after his inauguration in May 2023, President Bola Tinubu reviewed the currency swap policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). He said the application of the currency swap by the apex bank was too harsh considering the number of unbanked Nigerians.
He said a unified exchange rate would power the economy.
But contrary to what President Tinubu promised, the current realities in Nigeria show that this policy has led to inflation and hunger in the country.
Atiku said that he was not shocked by the impact of the President Tinubu government’s policies on the Nigerian economy and that he knew that the economy of the country was heading for the ditch at the twilight of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Reacting to Atiku’s statement, Onanuga said that Atiku got his facts muddled up and that he failed to prescribe a better policy option to what the current CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, and his team are executing at the apex bank.
Onanuga said that the “Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, in an attempt to rubbish the foreign exchange policy of the Tinubu administration got his facts muddled up again. He also failed to prescribe a better Policy Option to what Governor Olayemi Cardoso and his team are executing at the apex bank.
“First of all, it was not true that President Tinubu’s meeting last Thursday with the 36 State Governors was centred on discussing foreign exchange crisis and currency fluctuation.
“What was discussed in the main was food supply and how to drastically reduce the food prices. The Minister of Information, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, gave a briefing about the meeting, revealing the highlights to State House Correspondents.
“One was that the meeting established a nexus between the state of security and the rising cost of food. Another was that hoarders are warehousing food, creating artificial scarcity and thus enabling the high cost of food items.”
He continued, “There was no deliberation as former VP Atiku claimed on currency fluctuation. As Alhaji Atiku should know, this is the business of the Central Bank, which has the autonomy to handle the country’s monetary policies.
“As a matter of fact, the President enjoined the governors, in passing, to allow the CBN do its work and refrain from dabbling into what is within CBN’s purview.
“If he would be true to himself and what actually transpired at the meeting, unlike the lies he spewed, we expected Alhaji Atiku to praise President Tinubu for maintaining this stance and for not interfering with the business of the Central Bank.
“It is false and preposterous for Atiku to claim that CBN’s FX management policy was hurriedly put together without proper plans and consultations with stakeholders and that the apex bank is hamstrung by Tinubu’s government in implementing a sound FX Management Policy “that would have dealt with such issues as increasing liquidity, curtailing/regulating demand, dealing with FX backlogs and rate convergence”.
“Contrary to former VP Atiku’s claim, Cardoso’s CBN is implementing a raft of policies to stabilise the Naira and end volatility in the market and this is already yielding some positive results.
“Capital importation into the country is increasing, according to the latest NBS report. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Nigeria recorded a 66.27 percent increase in capital inflow, compared with Q3, before Cardoso’s arrival at CBN. In Q3, capital inflow was $654.65 million. It rose to $1.09 billion in Q4.
“Alhaji Atiku will agree that the rise in capital inflow suggests massive investors’ confidence in Nigeria and the policy direction of the Tinubu administration.
“Juxtaposed with the policy options being implemented by the CBN, Atiku’s alternative of a controlled floatation of the Naira is similar to the policy of Godwin Emefiele, when an estimated $1.5 billion was spent monthly to shore up the Naira, while arbitrage or round tripping went on unhindered. Sadly, it was perpetrated by people close to the corridors of powers.”
