Reps to summon CBN Gov., Finance Minister on devaluation of Naira

Reps to summon CBN Gov., Finance
Minister on devaluation of Naira
on october 23, 2013 at 7:13 pm in news
Abuja – The House of Representatives has
mandated its committees to invite the Governor of
the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Malam Sanusi
Lamido Sanusi, and the Minister of Finance, Dr
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, over continuous devaluation
of the Naira.
The CBN governor and the Coordinating Minister of
the Economy are expected to brief the committees
on the measures being taken to curb the ugly trend
of devaluation of the Naira.
The committees are Finance, Banking and Currency,
National Planning and Economic Development and
are expected report back to the House within six
weeks.
The resolution followed a motion entitled: “Need to
Check the Continuous Devaluation of the Naira”
sponsored by Rep. Odebunmi Olusegun (ACP-Oyo),
which was adopted without debate by the House.
Olusegun had, while moving the motion, said that
the Naira and Kobo were introduced in 1973 with
Naira as an equivalent of 10 shillings and Kobo
which serves as a minor currency.
“Then, Naira was more than US dollars in value and
a bit less than the United kingdom Pound Sterling,”
he said.
He said that there has been a continuous decrease
in the value of the Naira over the years against
major currencies in the world.
“There has been a continuous decrease in the
Naira value over the years against major currencies
in the world and a critical look at these years,
taking the US dollar as a basis for comparisons,
shows that.
“Around 1990 to 1993 it was about N28 to a Dollar,
around 1994 to 1996 it was about N40 to a dollar,
1996 to 1999 it was about N80 to a Dollar, around
1999 to 2007 it was about N140 to a Dollar”.
He expressed concern that if the downward trend
persisted, it would affect Nigeria’s economy and the
future of the country in general.
The lawmaker urged his colleagues to support the
motion to check the continuous devaluation of the
Naira.
The motion, which was not opposed, was referred to
the relevant committees for more inputs.
Meanwhile, the House during the consideration of
reports, adopted the recommendations of its
committees on Justice and Aviation on the urgent
need to investigate the justification and
circumstances surrounding the controversial
grounding of Rivers State Government-owned
Bombardier B700.
The House recommended that the Rivers
Government should be allowed to comply with the
necessary conditions for granting of all required
permits and licences.
It also recommended that the Committee on Aviation
be mandated to scrutinise the reason for rampant
foreign registration of aircraft by their owners.
It further recommended that the committee be
mandated to also investigate all private aircraft
operating in the country with a view to sanitising
their operation and ensuring enforcement of the law
governing their operations. (NAN)