Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, yesterday, accused Sanusi Lamido
Sanusi, the Emir of Kano, of playing to the gallery over his
statement that there are five exchange rates in the country. The apex
bank said it does not allocate dollars to end users,
saying request for foreign exchange are made through their banks.
It explained that there is no where in the world where the apex
bank allows vicious currency speculators to distort its currency endlessly.
Sanusi, also a former governor of CBN, had, on Friday, alleged that the apex
bank was lending to government above the limits stipulated by the CBN Act
of 2007 and that no one was willing to lend to the Nigerian government.
“If Senate approved, I want to see who will lend you $30billion when
you have five exchange rates”, the monarch said at a policy monitoring
dialogue hosted in Abuja by Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and
Development.
Faulting the emir’s position in a statement, yesterday, the CBN acting
Director, Corporate Communication, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, said the apex bank had
set up an inter-bank foreign exchange market where anyone who wished to
buy foreign exchange could bid for and buy through their banks. “ It is
not true that CBN allocates dollars.
There is no where in the world that the Central bank sits by and
allows vicious speculators to solely distort the value of its currency
endlessly. All central banks intervene to buy or sell in the market to ensure
that the local currency is protected from dubious attacks”, Okoroafor stated.
“The channels for advice and contribution of ideas on the current economic
situation by all patriotic Nigerians are open.
It is rather unfortunate that some people have chosen to play to the
gallery and to make statements to disparage those in leadership at this time in
total insensitivity to the larger interests of the Nigerian economy. “We should
not forget that the seed of our current economic crisis was planted by the
failure of those who occupied public office in the past but failed to act in
the long term interest of the Nigerian economy. It is easy to criticize from
outside.
“ It is always easier and the grass greener when people are out of
office. The challenge we face today is a choice between pandering to the
established interest in Nigeria’s speculative economy and the protection of the
wages of the real stakeholders who work hard on fixed incomes. For they are the
core victims of Naira depreciation.
“At this critical time in the life of our country the CBN will continue
to explore avenues with the Federal Government in order to find solutions to
the current economic situation. Already Nigerians are waking up to the call to
be more productive and to look inwards and to be less dependent on the
importation of foreign goods and services.”
Sanusi, in his Friday speech, said the apex bank was
illegally lending to the Federal Government. “The problem of the current
government is not having the right policies to fix the current economic woes”,
he stated. The emir’s presentation showed that CBN’s lending to the
government since Buhari came in had spiked from about N1.5 trillion to over
N4.5 trillion.
“The CBN-FGN relationship is no longer independent. In fact, one could
argue their relationship has become unhealthy. CBN claims on the FGN now tops
N4.7 trillion —equal to almost 50% of the FGN’s total domestic debt. This is a
clear violation of the Central Bank Act of 2007 (Section 38.2) which caps
advances to the FGN at 5% of last year’s revenues.
Has CBN become the government’s lender of last or first resort?”
Sanusi said at the dialogue that no one was willing to lend to the
Nigerian government. “If Senate approved, I want to see who will lend you
$30billion when you have five exchange rates”. According to the former CBN
governor, the country is enmeshed in heavy debts. Out of every N1 Nigeria
makes, the emir explained, 40 kobo goes to debt and 60 kobo is left for
salaries, health, education, power, infrastructure.
He said oil is merely a working capital that cannot make the
country rich. Nigeria produces one barrel for 80 Nigerians; Saudi Arabia
produces one for 3 Saudis, Sanusi said. The former CBN boss noted that in
every economy, growth is driven by “consumption, investment and net export”,
adding that “our exports cannot grow, without regulatory certainty or an
increase in the price of oil”.
He lamented that the country was spending money on repaying debts
and also on recurrent expenditure, as against education, healthcare,
power, and other infrastructure. The emir also stated that Nigeria is the
lowest per capita spender on development in Africa. On speaking truth to power,
he said: “I can’t apologise for being who I am. The government I served, I did
not keep quiet. When I am not serving the government, I cannot keep quiet.”
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