Lagos, Nigeria — Like a general determined to hold his ground against the fire power of the eneny, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo Thursday summoned bank chiefs to the government house in Abuja to find ways to save the Naira, Nigeria's embattled currency.

At the meeting attended by Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Joseph Sanusi, his top officials and bank chiefs, Obasanjo told the bankers to take "appropriate steps" to defend the naira.

The meeting came two days after the CBN devalued the naira by 1.8 percent, raising the official exchange rate to 112.7 to a dollar, up from 110.7 the day before. Obasanjo assured Nigerians there would be no further devaluation of the naira.

CBN had explained that the develuation became necessary following an increase in the demand for foreign exchange at the daily Inter-bank Foreign Exchange Market in the first two days of this week. IFEM is the official market at the central bank sells foreign exchange to licensed banks at an auction.

According to the central bank, demand for foreign exchange at IFEM rose to $150 million, up from an average of between $27million and $35million. CBN failed to sell foreign exchange at IFEM Wednesday.

CBN's failure to sell foreign exchange at the official market has hastened the steep fall of the naira on the black market. The naira exchanged for 133 to the dollar Wednesday evening here. This rose to 135 by Thursday morning, and to 140 by the close of day.

Sanusi told journalists there was "need for co-ordinating fiscal and monetary policies, not only at the federal, but also at the state level."