Abdul-Rahman Abubakar & Turaki A. Hassan
12 December 2008
The Senate yesterday summoned President Umaru Yar'adua's economic team to explain the current crash in the exchange rate of naira against major foreign currencies.
For the second time in two months, Senate invited Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, Minister of Finance, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, the Chief Economic Adviser to Mr. President, Dr. Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi and the Director General of Budget Office Dr. Bright Okogu to explain factors responsible for depreciation of the Naira and possible way out. The economic team during its last briefing to senators had said the country's economy was healthy and that all fundamentals of the economy indicated that Nigeria was insulated from the global financial crunch. But yesterday Senator Felix Kolawole Bajomo (PDP, Ogun West) on behalf of 24 other senators moved a motion expressing concern on the state of Nigeria's economy in view of the. Senator Bajomo said, "Senate is worried that the Naira has depreciated in the last four weeks at much faster rate than it had appreciated over the last two years. The Naira has fallen from exchange rate of N113 to a dollar to about N140 to a dollar within the last two weeks. He said the banking industry may not be meeting the country's commitment in global economy saying, "the banking industry maybe currently defaulting in the global economy." "This resultant speculation is resulting to a huge capital flight with its attendant inflationary consequence which will at the end affect every average Nigerian in the street," Senator Bajomo said.
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