Senate summons Emefiele as dollar surges to N700

The Nigerian Senate has asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, to appear before it amid continued depreciation of the nation's currency, Naira.

This followed a motion moved by Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi (APC, Ekiti North) and adopted by other senators during plenary on Wednesday, July 27, 2022, Daily Trust reports.

Dollar has maintained a steady rise against the Naira in recent months leading to a high prices of commodities in the market.

However, Pulse gathered that Naira slipped further on Wednesday by trading between N690 and N700 per dollar at the parallel market.

The development caught the attention of members of the upper Legislative Chamber who demanded an immediate response from the CBN to arrest the rapid decline of the value of the Naira.

Contributing to the debate, a Senator representing Niger East, Sani Musa, said the Naira would regain its value if Nigeria produces what the citizens consume.

On her part, Senator Biodun Olujimi (Ekiti South), accused the CBN of ignoring its responsibility to defend the naira.

“Most of what is happening is because people are taking out the dollar and selling and bringing them back in — we should be penalising somebody for what has happened to the naira-dollar rate.”

The Nigerian economy is heavily dependent on dollar, which is the currency used to import most of the items the citizens consume.

Experts have argued that Naira will continue to play a second fiddle to dollar until the country is able to produce most of the things it consumes.