Concerns have heightened over the free fall of the Nigerian naira against foreign currencies. Theliberationnews gathered that one British Pound sterling exchanged for over N1,005 as at Sunday.
This unpalatable development has also heightened trepidation about the Naira/Dollar which experts predict will follow the path of the British Pound sterling in exchange soonest. Currently, the dollar exchanges for N845 to a dollar.
More worrisome is the fact that black market rate is now more than twice the official rate, consequently widening the disparity and putting more pressure on businesses and standards of living generally in an import dependent economy like Nigeria’s.
Although, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) made a move to salvage the situation by raiding some Bureau de Change (BDC) operators in Lagos, Abuja and Kano, that has not saved the Naira from its free fall.
Taking to social media to express his concern, a Nigerian, Samson Benson wrote on Twitter: “The exchange rates of pounds to naira and dollar to naira are absurd. It is a national embarrassment which should be handled seriously.”
However, one of the measures the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) planned to explore in order save the nation from continued embarrassment at the capital market is the redesigning of the naira notes.
Theliberationnews reported that the Central Bank of Nigeria planned to redesign the N200, N500 and N1,000 notes in order to take control of the currency in circulation.
Many Nigerians have, however, tagged the policy as ill-timed and ill-conceived with many suggesting that the priority of the CBN governor should rather be how to regulate the country’s economy.
The CBN’s action latest condemnation came from the respected general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye who noted that rather than taking more reasonable action the government is working on how to further beautify the naira notes.
His words: “You know what’s going on in our country. It doesn’t even make sense anymore. Our naira now is not even worth the paper it is printed on.
“And while people are hungry, trying to find enough money to buy bread to eat, our bosses are thinking of making the naira more beautiful, even if it can’t buy bread, at least, it will look beautiful. Oh Lord, have mercy!
“We have problems in the land now. Things seem to be getting funnier and funnier. If you don’t learn to laugh in Nigeria now, you will develop hypertension.”
