House Invites CBN Gov Over FOREX Restrictions

By Oduyemi Odumade

Members of the House of Representatives have resolved to invite the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to brief the house on the recent decision to lift FOREX restrictions on 43 items.

The Members also urged the CBN to engage with other stakeholders within the fiscal ecosystem on the matter.

This was sequel to the adoption of a matter of urgent public importance by a member from Katsina State, Mr Sada Soli at plenary.

The Lawmaker observed that when the Apex Bank imposed the restrictions in June 2015 to conserve the foreign exchange reserves and promote local production of certain goods, the decision was to protect local industries.

Mr Soli expressed concern that the decision would greatly affect local production of items such as rice, cement, and palm oil among others.

“Almost all the 43 items are from two critical sectors which have been identified by policy documents from NEEDS, SEEDS to Vision 2022 as being areas that are critical to economic diversification.

According to him, the benefit of the cheaper imported inputs as stated by the CBN would give undue advantage to middlemen to drive the economy.

He stated that Nigeria would not be competitive in the African Continental Free Trade Area if the markets are flooded with imported finished goods, saying the decision may not have meaningful impact on the rising food inflation as a result of soaring exchange rate.

Adopting the motion, the House urged the apex bank to develop a system that will engender professional conduct by all key players in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market to guarantee market forces determine exchange rates on a Willing Buyer-Willing Seller Principle.

Edited By Grace Namiji