CBN Sends Message To Nigerians, Discloses Reason For Naira Depreciation

The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso has urged Nigerians to be patient with the apex bank as it is doing everything possible to ensure that the Naira is strengthened.

Cardoso stated this at the 2024 public lecture entitled: ‘Recent Developments in a Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market: Issues, Options and Way Forward’, organised by the Nigerian Economic Society, (NES) at the CBN Centre of Excellence Hall, University of Ibadan.

The CBN governor who was represented at the event by Dr. Usman Opanachi stated that strategies employed so far to combat the free fall of Naira has only produced temporary relief.

He noted that the apex bank is working day and night to address the challenges which has led to the economic crisis plaguing the nation.

He explained that the excess demand of foreign exchange is a legendary problem in the free fall of the naira.

According to Opanachi, “Anytime the Naira is on trial, the CBN is also on trial. We are working day and night to address the challenges and we hope things will work out.

“The exchange rate features nearly in every sector. The exchange rate and inflation are very high now. The exchange rate is a problem.

“Excess demand for forex in Nigeria is a legendary problem. It has just been there and over the years, the bank has implemented various strategies to address this problem. Those strategies have only been able to provide some temporary relief.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria does not supply or produce dollars. It is the naira that it produces. The CBN management thinks when you hold the price of a commodity that is determined by forex down artificially, a time comes when you will not be able to do that.

“The thinking of the new management of CBN is that the policies you have are intended to address the problem. The approach the management has adopted is the market forces approach. The bank now allows the market forces to play a greater role in the determination of the price of naira.”