Naira Devaluation: Vital For Investments In Nigeria - CBN

The recently appointed Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Dr. Joseph Nnana has said that Naira exchange rates announced by the apex bank is a pro-active measure to forestall commodity crisis in the face of oil price fall globally. And that Naira has not been devalued contrary to reports in the media.

According to him, “CBN merely announced the exchange rate in compliance with market forces.”

Nnana stated this when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Banking, Finance and other Financial Institutions.

“The Central Bank did not devalue the naira so to speak, it only followed the three principal markets in Nigeria. The official, the retail and the parallel,” he said.

He, however, explained that the CBN will not pursue this policy permanently.


 He said, “We better do it now than later when we will have import control which would bring about essential commodity crisis. Nigerians should be patient. Unfortunately Nigerians are always in a hurry. Let us give central bank time to pursue a policy that will be a blessing to all of us. I commend the CBN for being proactive with the policy.”

He also stated that another way to survive the current economic crisis is to recapitalise development banks with a view to encouraging them to lend at controlled interest rates.

“My take is that since we have development banks like the Bank of Industry, Nexim bank, Bank of Agriculture, and so on, we can recapitalise all of them and mandate them to lend at a fixed interest rate for the entrepreneurs and other willing investors in the Nigerian economy,” Nnana said.