The federal government has berated former vice president and presidential candidate of the PDP at the 2023 general election, Atiku Abubakar for calling on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to prevent further devaluation of the naira by carrying out controlled floatation of the naira.
The opposition leader stated that Tinubu’s economic policies, especially the unification of the exchange rate, were hastily implemented without proper planning and also lacking in adequate consultations with stakeholders.
Atiku said that Tinubu’s economic reforms of the past nine months since assumption of office have led to the depreciation in the value of the naira while increasing the value of the dollar, causing intense hardship on Nigerians as cost of living continue to surge higher.
“The wrong policies of the Tinubu administration continue to cause untold pain and distress on the economy and the rest of us cannot keep quiet when the government has demonstrated sufficient poverty of ideas to redeem the situation.”
“Given Nigeria’s underlying economic conditions, adopting a floating exchange rate system would be an overkill. We would have encouraged the Central Bank of Nigeria to adopt a gradualist approach to FX management. A managed-floating system would have been a preferred option.” He added.
The former vice president who observed that the naira might fluctuate daily in such a system, but the CBN would step in to control and stabilize its value added that such control will be exercised judiciously and responsibly, especially to address speculative activities.
While reacting in a statement signed on Sunday, February 18, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga who argued that Atiku’s alternative of a controlled floatation of the naira is similar to the policy of Godwin Emefiele when an estimated $1.5bn was spent monthly to shore up the naira, while arbitrage or round-tripping went on untamed, expressed sadness that such was perpetrated by people close to the corridors of power.
The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy noted that last Thursday’s meeting between the President, his vice, and state governors was not to discuss currency fluctuation as Atiku claimed but food supply and how to significantly address the increase in food prices across the country.
Meanwhile, citing Tinubu’s plea to governors to allow the CBN to work and his stance not to establish a commodity board, Onanuga said that the presidency expected Alhaji Atiku to praise President Tinubu for maintaining this stance and for not interfering with the business of Central Bank.
He stated further; “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”.
Onanuga also cited figures from the National Bureau Statistics for Q4 2023, which showed that Nigeria recorded a 66.27 per cent increase in capital inflow, compared with Q3, before Cardoso assumed duty at CBN in Q3, the capital inflow was $654.65m and rose to $1.09bn in Q4.
He stated that the former vice president can attest to the fact that that the rise in capital inflow shows massive investors’ confidence in the country and the policy direction of the Tinubu-led government.
