The Central Bank of Nigeria under the leadership of Godwin Emefiele has asked Nigerians to blame the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC) for the poor performance of Naira against Dollar in the global market.
Recall, the Nigerian currency has constantly depreciated to its lowest level at the black market in recent days. It was gathered from traders on Thursday, July 28, 2022, that Naira closed at N718 to a dollar compared to N700/$ recorded the previous day.
With the exchange rate now at N718 per dollar, it indicates that Naira has depreciated by N100 in just 10 days. At the official channels it was tough for some bank users who could not access thier funds in their domiciliary accounts due to lack of liquidity.
However, responding to the development CBN on Friday, July 29, 2022, said the non-remittance of dollars to foreign reserves by Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC) is to be blamed for the free fall of naira in the parallel market.
NNPC and its subsidiaries are said to be the sole managers of crude oil which accounts for more than 80 per cent of Nigeria’s Foreign Exchange (forex) earnings.
In the CBN report titled: “The forex question in Nigeria: Fact sheet”, the apex bank disclosed that “domestically, there has been zero dollar remittance to the country’s foreign reserve by the NNPC, insisting that the CBN does not print dollars.
The report states: “As noted by the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, monetary policy alone cannot bear all the burden of the expected adjustments needed to manage these difficulties. It’s our collective duty as Nigerians to shore up the value of the naira.”
According to the apex bank, Nigeria earns foreign exchange from four sources – proceeds from oil exports; proceeds from non-oil exports; diaspora remittances, and Foreign Direct/Portfolio Investments (capital flows).
Meanwhile, the CBN in another statement has advised Nigerians not to succumb to speculative activities of some players in the foreign exchange market.
Mr Osita Nwanisobi, CBN’s Director, Corporate Communications CBN, gave the advice in a statement on Friday, against the backdrop of rising demand for foreign exchange for both goods and services.
Nwanisobi said that the CBN remained committed to resolving the foreign exchange issues confronting the nation, and had been working to manage both the demand and supply challenges.
He said that the apex bank was concerned about the international value of the Naira.
He said that the monetary authority was strategising to help Nigeria earn more stable and sustainable inflows of foreign exchange in the face of dwindling inflows from the oil sector.