The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) has blamed the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele’s poor economic management policies for the recent free-fall of the Naira, IgbereTV reports
The Naira within the week depreciated to an all-time low of N730 to a U.S dollar at the parallel market.
The group in a statement on Sunday signed by its president, Comrade Solomon Adodo, therefore called on President Muhammadu Buhari to relief Emefiele of his position to avoid further damage to the nation’s economy.
The NYCN described statements credited to the CBN boss alleging that the current free-fall of the Naira against other major currencies was as a result of the non-remittances of dollars to the foreign reserve by the NNPC Ltd, as disingenuous and unpatriotic.
He noted that Emefiele however failed to highlight the reality of the causative oil and non-oil related factors including a drop in Nigeria’s crude oil production, growing petrol subsidy, an unsustainable dual exchange rate system, reduction in foreign direct investments and growing dependence on importation across many sectors of the economy
The group flayed Emefiele for completely failing to concentrate on his core mandate of price stability as the apex bank’s governor, pointing out that with inflation at about 19 percent and the exchange rate nearing N800 to a dollar, the CBN Governor should be held responsible for deepening poverty in the country as he continues to work at cross-purposes with President Muhammadu Buhari’s objective of reducing poverty and growing the economy.
The statement reads: “We are all witness to the fact that from August 2020 to July 2022, the official exchange rate has moved from N381 to N415/$, representing only a nine percent increase. However, the parallel market has moved from N470 to N710 within the same period representing a 51 percent increase and a record 71 percent arbitrage with the official exchange rate creating a huge incentive for round-tripping, price gouging, sharp market practices, and inflation.
“The NYCN is therefore shocked by the comment of the Governor associating the free-fall of the parallel market rates to NNPC, even though it is purely a monetary policy issue and outside the purview of the NNPC
