CONTRARY to claims by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that the weakening of the value of the Naira was caused by the non-remittance of funds into foreign reverse by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd, fresh facts have shown that the NNPC remitted a total of N2.7 billion into its accounts with the CBN from January to June this year.
The CBN had, in reacting to the nose-diving of the value of Naira, said the non-remittance of dollars by the NNPC precipitated the forex crisis.
In a report entitled “The forex question in Nigeria: Fact sheet,” the CBN said there had been “zero-dollar remittance to the country’s foreign reserve by the NNPC.”
Checks have however revealed that the NNPC Ltd remitted $2.7billion into CBN in the first six months of this year.
Records showed that out of the $2.7 billion the NNPC remitted into its CBN accounts, $645million was for dividend paid by the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company Ltd, while $1.786 billion was from the NNPC operational activities.
A breakdown of the NNPC remittances showed that funds into the NNPC accounts came thus: $18,770,418.97 (January 2022), $194, 563, 276. 49 (February 2022) and $373, 232,875.20 (March 2022).
Other NNPC remittances were $247,884,295.52 (April 2022), $591, 565, 425. 41 (May 2022) and $880, 906, 761.81 (June 2022).
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, has been in the eye of the storm following the weakening of the naira.
Last Wednesday, the Senate decided to invite Emefiele to explain the weakening of the value of the naira and to proffer the way forward.
Following a motion sponsored by Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi, the Senate, apart from summoning Emefiele, also mandated its Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions to critically look into the intervention funds CBN earmarked to support some sectors of the economy.
In his motion seeking Emefiele’s summoning, Senator Adetumbi said CBN’s earlier ban of forex sales to BDC operators caused a spike in exchange rate.
He stated that a few people benefit from the import-export window meant to serve the forex needs of business enterprises.
According to him even the Personal Travel Allowance (PTA) and Business Travel Allowance (BTA) are not accessible as less than 20 per cent of the total forex demand by travellers and businesses is met by CBN.
The CBN has been blaming the rapid depreciation of the value of the Naira to so many factors.
In 2018, Emefiele blamed forex crisis on the importation of items he said should have been manufactured in Nigeria, leading to the ban of Forex allocation for 41 items.
In 2021, Emefiele shifted the blame on Bureau De Change (BDC) operators, who he accused of illegal forex trading.
He pointed fingers at “Aboki FX,” saying its activities were responsible for the naira depreciation, thereby cutting allocation to BDC.
This year, the CBN has blamed the forex crisis on money laundering and activities of those allegedly funding terrorism as well as politicians.
Meanwhile, in its efforts to boost inflows of foreign exchange amidst rising demand for both goods and services by Nigerians, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that in the first and second quarters of 2022, it raked in about $600 million as at June 2022 through the RT200 FX Programme.
This was disclosed by the Director, Corporate Communications at the CBN, Mr Osita Nwanisobi, who reiterated that the CBN remained committed to resolving the foreign exchange issues confronting the nation and, as such, has been working to manage both the demand and supply side challenges.
Speaking on the issue in Abuja over the weekend, he said “the Bank’s records showed that foreign exchange inflow through the RT200 FX Programme in the first and second quarters of 2022 increased significantly to about $600 million as at June 2022.”
While admitting that there was huge demand pressure for foreign exchange to meet the needs of manufacturers as well as those for the payment of tuition, medical fees and other invisibles, Nwanisobi said the Bank was concerned about the international value of the naira, adding that the monetary authority was strategising to help Nigeria earn more stable and sustainable inflows of foreign exchange in the face of dwindling inflows from the oil sector.
Specifically, he noted that recent initiatives undertaken by the Bank such as the RT200 FX Programme and the Naira4Dollar rebate scheme had helped to increase foreign exchange inflow to the country.
Similarly, he disclosed that the Naira4Dollar incentive also increased the volume of Diaspora remittances during the first half of the year.
Continuing, he said interventions such as 100 for 100 Policy on Production and Productivity, Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) and the Non-Oil Export Stimulation Facility (NESF), among others, were also geared towards diversifying the economy, enhancing inflow of foreign exchange, stimulating production and reducing foreign exchange demand pressure.
Nwanisobi, therefore said that the Bank would continue to make deliberate effort in the foreign exchange sector to avert further downward slide in the value of the naira, which he observed is fueled by speculative tendencies.
Reiterating an earlier position of the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, he urged Nigerians to play their role by adjusting their consumption patterns, looking inwards and finding innovative solutions to the country’s challenges.
He submitted that monetary policy alone could not bear all the burden of the expected adjustments needed to manage the challenges around Nigeria’s foreign exchange and admonished that “It’s our collective duty as Nigerians to shore up the value of the Naira.”
Nwanisobi advised Nigerians not to succumb to speculative activities of some players in the foreign exchange market.
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The PDP spokesman recalled how the opposition party had on various occasions alerted that the APC government had ceded sovereignty over a large portion of our country to terrorists, “many of whom were imported into our country by the APC.”
He further stated: “From the video, in a brazen manner, terrorists as non-state actors boldly showed their faces, boasting, admitting and confirming their participation in the Kuje Prison break, some of whom were former prison inmates who were either jailed or awaiting trial for their previous terrorism act against our country.
“Nigerians can equally recall the confession by the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai that the APC government knows the plans and whereabouts of the terrorists but failed to act.
According to Ologunagba, about 18,000 Nigerians have been killed by terrorists between 2020 and 2022 “as the criminals continue to be emboldened by the failures and obvious complicity of the APC and to which the PDP had always drawn attention.”
“This is not politics; this is about humanity and leadership, which leadership sadly and unfortunately is missing in our country at this time,” he said.
The PDP added that it is appalled by “the lame response by the apparently helpless, clueless and deflated Buhari Presidency, wherein it told an agonizing nation that President Buhari “has done all and even more than what was expected of him as Commander in Chief by way of morale, material and equipment support to the military…”
“This is a direct admission of incapacity and failure by the Buhari Presidency and the APC. At such a time, in other climes, the President directly leads the charge and takes drastic measures to rescue and protect his citizens.
“In time of adversity, the President transmutes into Consoler-in-Chief to give hope and succour to the citizens. Painfully, Nigeria does not have a President who cares and can stand as Consoler-in-Chief to the citizens.
“It has now become very imperative for Nigerians to take note and realize that the only solution to this unfortunate situation is to hold the APC government accountable. We must come together as a people, irrespective of our political, ethnic and religious affiliations to resist the fascist-leaning tendencies of the APC administration.
Ologunagba called for an urgent meeting of the National Council of State to advise on the way to go over the nation’s worsening insecurity.
“Our nation must not fall. The resilient Nigerian spirit and ‘can-do- attitude’ must be rekindled by all to prevail on the President to immediately and without further delay, accede to the demand by the PDP and other well-meaning Nigerians to convene a special session of the National Council of State to find a lasting solution since the President has, in his own admission, come to his wit’s end,” the PDP spokesman declared.
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