Exchange rate: CBN confused on what to do with the naira – TUC

The President of the Trade Union Congress has said that the Central Bank on Nigeria is confused and does not know the steps to take to steer to the economy out of its sorry state.

Kaigama said that all sectors of the economy had collapsed with the nation’s currency losing value against the Dollar and other foreign currencies every hour.

According to him the misfortune of the Naira had continued with the currency exchanging for between N480 and N492 to the dollar in the foreign change market.

Kaigama’s comments were contained in an address released to coincide with the nation’s 56th independence anniversary on Friday.

He lamented while the nation was politically independent, the economy had been hijacked by the International Monetary Fund and a few wealthy individuals to the detriment of the citizenry.

He said, “Ours is a tale of a country that has been hijacked by the Brettonwood institutions and an insignificant few in terms of number, who now manipulate the system to their own personal aggrandizement.  The politicians collude with the big players in the economy to rape the treasury, leaving the people prostrate, hopeless and frustrated.

“There is no gainsaying the fact that all sectors of our economy have collapsed, and our most cherished Naira bows every hour to foreign currencies. As at yesterday the Naira exchanged for between N480 and N492 per US dollar. The Central Bank of Nigeria appears hopeless, not knowing what to do.

“Many companies have closed shop while others are fleeing the country, a situation that has lead to millions of job losses. Our economy has been hijacked by the International Monetary Fund and a few wealthy Nigerians and the society is the worse for it.

“The challenge before the country is the few greedy Nigerians who see the country as their personal property. They use our commonwealth to buy our viable national assets only to turn them to warehouses. They are paid upfront to fix the refineries that never worked; they increase the price of fuel to N145 per litre; canvass for the sale of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas’, airports, sea ports, etc. They have a common goal, which is to loot.”

Kaigama said that it had become necessary to look for competent hands beyond the ruling party to address the problem of the economy saying the submission of the National Bureau of Statistics that the economy had dwindled by 2.06 per cent had not happened in the last three decades.

Kaigama who also commented on the moves being made to sell national assets called on the government to ignore the call by the governors during the last meeting of the National Economic Council.

According to him, the consequences of selling the assets would be disastrous as shown by the fact that the government had not been able to tell the citizens what was done with the proceeds of assets sold in the past.

He urged the Federal Government to demilitarize the Niger Delta and to ensure the resolution of the conflict through dialogue to put the country on the lane of economic recovery.

He also advocated the slashing of the salaries of officials of the executive, the legislature and the Judiciary as was done in Saudi Arabia to reduce the abominable cost of servicing the Presidential system of government.