Economic hardship: Your attempt to rubbish foreign exchange policy has failed – Presidency replies Atiku

The Presidency, on Sunday, said the attempt by former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar to rubbish the foreign exchange policy of the government has failed.

It said the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, was currently implementing policies to stabilise the Naira.

Atiku had recently said the Forex policy of the present administration under President Bola Tinubu failed because it was hurriedly put together without consulting relevant stakeholders.

However, responding to Atiku’s claim in a statement at the weekend, Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, said Atiku got his facts muddled up.

According to him, “Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, in an attempt to rubbish the foreign exchange policy of the Tinubu administration got his facts muddled up again. He also failed to prescribe a better Policy Option to what Governor Olayemi Cardoso and his team are executing at the apex bank.

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“First of all, it wasn’t true that President Tinubu’s meeting last Thursday with the 36 State Governors was centred on discussing foreign exchange crisis and currency fluctuation.

“What was discussed in the main was food supply and how to drastically reduce the food prices.

“Contrary to former VP Atiku’s claim, Cardoso’s CBN is implementing a raft of policies to stabilise the Naira and end volatility in the market and this is already yielding some positive results.

“Juxtaposed with the policy options being implemented by the CBN, Atiku’s alternative of a controlled floatation of the Naira is similar to the policy of Godwin Emefiele, when an estimated $1.5 billion was spent monthly to shore up the Naira, while arbitrage or round tripping went on unhindered. Sadly, it was perpetrated by people close to the corridors of powers.”