FOREX: Presidency refutes Atiku’s claim

The Nigerian Government has denied the claim made by former vice president Abubakar Atiku that President Bola Tinubu’s and the 36 states governors’ meeting merely centered on the foreign exchange crisis bedeviling the country.

Bayo Onanuga, special adviser on media and strategy to President Tinubu, said in a statement that ‘there was no deliberation 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,” Onanuga stated.

Atiku had accused President Tinubu of hamstring the CBN from implement a sound forex policy “that would have dealt with such issues as increasing liquidity, curtailing/regulating demand, dealing with FX backlogs and rate convergence”.

But Onanuga disagreed. He said, “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.

“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.”