Pegasus Reporters Issues on the Wing
“No doubt revaluing the Naira would affect Government revenue, but it will give the Government the needed justification to enforce price control and see so many things corrected including the craving to convert one’s savings to the USD”
PEGASUS REPORTERS, LAGOS | SEPTEMBER 10, 2024
It is not that worthless. Naira worths much more than we have valued it. My little findings are that there is really nothing like “market forces” being SOLELY responsible for the price or value of any country’s currency.
Market forces are human beings. Foreign exchange brokers are usually those that determine the exchange rate relying on a number of factors including patriotism for their Country.
Devaluing Naira officially from N154/$ in May 2014 (rose to N1198/$ in February 2015, to N310/$ in July 2016, to N410/$ in October 2021, to N461/$ in May 2023) to N1,595 in September 2024 is nothing but making a mockery of our beloved currency!
There is NOTHING market forces here except a conviction to earn more by selling foreign currencies earned from crude oil exports. But like you pointed out days ago, it does no one any good! Not even the Government that is the major beneficiary. Cost of governance, cost of doing business, cost of living, everything has been affected either in the same proportion or twice or thrice more.
But we must not single out the Government or this current Government for blame. Every Government / every CBN Governor at least since 1999 has devalued the Naira. Even PMB’s despite his insistence in May 2016 that he won’t allow devaluation to budge a few months after. On his first-year anniversary he wrote:
“๐๐ ๐ง๐๐จ๐ค๐ก๐ซ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ฎ, ๐๐จ ๐๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ฅ๐๐จ๐ฉ, ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ก๐ช๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ง๐๐๐f๐ช๐ก ๐๐๐ง๐ข ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐๐ค๐ฃ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ. F๐ช๐ง๐ฉ๐๐๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ง๐, ๐ ๐จ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ค๐ง๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ข๐ค๐ฃ๐๐ฉ๐๐ง๐ฎ ๐๐ช๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ง๐๐ฉ๐ฎโ๐จ ๐๐๐๐๐จ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐ฃ๐จ๐ช๐ง๐ ๐๐ก๐๐๐ฃ๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ฌ๐๐๐ฃ ๐ข๐ค๐ฃ๐๐ฉ๐๐ง๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ค๐ก๐๐๐ฎ ๐๐ฃ๐ f๐๐จ๐๐๐ก ๐ฅ๐ค๐ก๐๐๐ฎ.”
President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR (May 29, 2016)
*Mr. Olawale Edun, Nigeria’s minister of finance & coordination minister for the economy
One USD was worth N196 on the day of this broadcast. But despite his convictions, Naira was devalued to N280/$ in June 2016 (less than a month after) and in September same year it got to N310/$ before it stabilized for a long time (between 2017 and March 2020) at N30$. My thinking was that he was shown how much Government would make and how it would be more of a solution than a problem and he agreed. Maybe too, he didn’t fully agree because at the time the devaluation occurred in June 2016, parallel market rate was about N500/$. So, if he approved it wholly, the official value would have been devalued to N450/$ or something even close to N500 than N450. The fact is that he allowed devaluation to occur.
But the Government especially the CBN should also consider revaluing (not devaluing) the Naira upwardly. It makes no sense that Naira that was N460/$ in May last year is almost N1,600/$ today in the same official market. No, it doesn’t make any sense!
No doubt revaluing the Naira would affect Government revenue, but it will give the Government the needed justification to enforce price control and see so many things corrected including the craving to convert one’s savings to the USD.
No matter the grammar spoken or written, the truth remains that the only reason for one West African CFA that was less than 34% of the Naira in 2012 to rise to about 272% of the Naira today is because we all agreed to murder the value of the Naira. No Naira isn’t this valueless
Chukwuemeka Ojielo was contributing to a debate on the value of the naira WhatsApp
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Editor’s Titbits: Relieving the Tortuous Paths to the Fall of the Naira
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