It was alarming, as some factions of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, are not happy about the way Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, is gradually dismantling President Muhammadu Buhari’s political and economic structures.
Their recent grievance came on the light of the Monday’s move by the Central Bank Of Nigeria, CBN, to amend Buhari’s forex policies, that have brought untold hardship on Nigerians.
The National Executive Council, NEC, led by Osinbajo, had last week after its meeting, called for a review of Buhari’s Forex Policy.
“After a brief presentation on Forex Policy options by the CBN Governor, Council members generally expressed concern over the current situation of the exchange rate, and called for an urgent review of the current Forex Policy, especially the gap between inter-bank and the parallel market rates,” the NEC had stated last week.
NEC comprises of the 36 States Governors, the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, and other top government functionaries.
Speaking to Post-Nigeria exclusively, a top APC source said: “Osinbajo’s anti-Buhari moves, may hasten the President’s death. How can Osinbajo wake up and start reversing Buhari’s monetary policy, while the President is sick. I am worried. Last week, we read that the arm probe panel set up by Buhari, was disbanded under the Acting President’s watch.”
He added: “Osinbajo is biting more than he can chew. The cabals are watching. My counsel to Osinbajo, is that by tactically dismantling Buhari’s political and economic structure, he will do his political career no good.
“But I must confess, the reversal of the Forex Policy, would do Nigerians no good, but the Acting President should bear in mind that Buhari has reasons of not reversing it, despite the pressure on him.”
When asked if the Acting President got approval from Buhari before instructing the CBN to reverse it, he said: “If he got a nod from the President, good and fine. If not, Osinbajo is digging his political grave.”
He added, that the new measures were not likely to ease the current shortage of forex in the system. He said: “I believe the CBN is making a mistake, if it thinks that it will effectively tackle the forex scarcity, by directing banks to take over the sale of forex for school fees payment, PTA, BTA, and medicals.
In a statement released on Monday, and signed by the Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, the apex bank said the new measure was part of “new policy actions in the forex market” aimed at increasing the availability of forex in the system, in order to alleviate the hardship encountered by Nigerians in obtaining funds for forex transactions.
The CBN, stated that it would: “Immediately begin to provide foreign exchange to all commercial banks, in order to meet the needs of both Personal Travel Allowances (PTA), and Business Travel Allowances (BTA), for onward sale to customers.
“All banks would receive amounts commensurate with their demands per week, which would be sold to customers who meet usual basic documentary requirements.”
The regulator gave assurance that it would ensure: “This process is as smooth as possible, and that as many customers as possible get the foreign exchange they genuinely demand.”
The apex bank also emphasised that it would sustain the supply of forex to retail end-users, who require it for PTA, BTA, school fees, and medical bills.
In line with its commitment to ensure transparency in the market, the CBN said it would activate the market’s order book as soon as possible, and accelerate currency matching of the trading platform.
“Given our plan to meet all unfilled orders, and while provision of forex to the manufacturing sector would remain the Central Bank’s strong priority, we will no longer impose allocation/utilization rules on commercial banks,” the CBN stated.
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