CBN’s Missteps Contributed To Tumbling Naira Value – Utomi

Political economist, Pat Utomi, claims that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) “mistakes” contribute to the naira’s declining value.

Currently, the naira is worth over ₦1,400 to a dollar on the black market, and it has been declining in value relative to other major global currencies over the past few months.

Even though President Bola Tinubu’s administration floated the currency when it first took office, Utomi tied the current decline of the country’s economy to Nigeria’s central bank mistakes.

The political economist noted that to address Nigeria’s economic issue, the country’s economic administrators ought to make certain adjustments.

Utomi, while speaking on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday, said, “For many years, Nigeria has depended on foreign exchange sent home by the diaspora. Diaspora has been a significant part of the economy. They are supporting their people from there because things are not going well for most of their people. But you know what, that leads to an inflow of foreign exchange into the country, and that helped us keep things going.

“Today, entreprenuership and technology have made it such that dollar is not coming to Nigeria. They simply use one app and the Nigerian in London or Chicago who wants to solve a problem for their person here, gives dollars to somebody who is there and the naira goes to the persons here. Yes, it solves the problem, but the Nigerian economy has not received the input of the dollar. And Central Bank helped contribute to that by some missteps they made in the last few years. So, this is a major reason why the exchange rate is tumbling.”