Senate summons Emefiele as naira sinks to N700/$1

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has been summoned by the Senate over dwindling economic indices.

The Senate summoned him on Wednesday over rising inflation and naira devaluation against major currencies which has sent prices of food  fuel and other essentials skywards.

The senators lamented that the United States dollar to naira had now risen to N700 which was very sad and called for immediate attention.

The Nigerian currency finally crossed the N700/$1 mark on Wednesday as the country continues to suffer a shortage in the supply of the greenback in the foreign exchange market.

Data obtained from forex dealers in different parts of Lagos showed that the Naira was exchanged for the greenback on Wednesday at N705/$1, while the hard currency was bought from holders between N697/$1 and N700/$1.

At about midday on Wednesday in the Yaba area of Lagos State, the local currency was sold for N705/$1.

In Ikeja, the domestic currency was exchanged at N703/$1 and at the Olugbede Model Market in the Egbeda area of the metropolis; it was traded at N700/$1.

In the black market on Tuesday, the exchange rate was N671/$1 but in less than 24 hours, the value has depleted by N34 or 5.07 per cent.

It was gathered that some investors are in panic mode, liquidating their naira investments to dollar as a result of the recent statements by Emefiele.

Some banks have already announced incentives for dollar deposits as demand for the greenback surged with many Nigerians seeking to preserve the value of their currency holdings.

“What we are experiencing at the moment is the triggering of the panic button by the Central Bank Governor last week,” a financial analyst based in Lagos, Ademola Bankole, was quoted as saying.

“Investors are only trying to play safe as the electioneering is getting closer and inflation could erode return on investments (RoIs) in Naira,” another financial expert, Chukwu Edozie, reportedly said.