Nigerian Lawmakers Summon CBN Governor, Finance Minister, Others

Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, will appear before the House of Representatives to speak on the state of the economy, the Clerk of the House, Yahaya Danzaria, announced on Monday.

Mr Cardoso is scheduled to speak to the lawmakers during plenary to brief them on the free fall of the naira and other issues affecting the monetary side of the economy.

According to the statement issued by Mr Danzaria, the CBN governor will appear before the lawmakers for a sectorial debate focusing on the financial sector.

He is to appear alongside the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun; the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu and the Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacch Adedeji.

Mr Cardoso and others are to brief the lawmakers on the state of the naira and the implementation of the 2024 budget.

Speaker Abbas Tajudeen had last week announced that the sectorial debate for the financial sector “will assess the nation’s readiness to mobilise the necessary financial resources for implementing the budget.”

In November last year, the House held the sectorial debate for the security sector with appearances by the service chiefs, the Comptroller General of Customs Bashir Adeniyi and the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.

However, despite the debate on insecurity, non-state actors continue to kill with impunity while kidnappers are operating freely across the country.

President Bola Tinubu’s reform of the foreign exchange system and the petroleum downstream sector has created the unintended consequences of inflationary pressure.

Shortly after his inauguration, Mr Tinubu halted the corruption-ridden petroleum subsidy scheme and subsequently announced the unification of the foreign exchange system.

The value of Nigeria’s naira has declined since the commencement of the unification policy as the currency is weighed down by illiquidity and commonplace speculative practices among market operators and street traders.

On Monday, Mr Cardoso said the ongoing reforms will attract investors who are studying the current administration’s reforms. He promised that inflow from the investors would address the lack of stability in the FX market.

While the government continues to preach “light at the end of the tunnel,” Nigerians are hurting as the cost of living continues to skyrocket.

Between the time Mr Tinubu took office and now, the naira has depreciated by approximately 68 per cent; 50 per cent in 2023 alone.