The Senate on Thursday asked the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Chukwumah Soludo; Minister of Finance, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman; the Chief Economic Adviser to the President, Dr. Tanimu Yakubu and the Director General, Budget Office, Dr. Bright Okogu, to appear before it next Tuesday over the recent decline in the value of the naira.
The nation’s currency has continued on a free fall in the last two weeks. The resolution leading to the summons issued to Soludo and others was sequel to the adoption of a motion by Senator Felix Kola Bajomo (PDP, Ogun West.)
Other senators who co-sponsored the motion included the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu; Senate Leader, Senator Teslim Folarin; Senate spokesman, Senator Ayogu Eze; Chairman Senate Committee on Interior, Senator Lekan Mustapha and 14 others.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Senator Smart Adeyemi, who also contributed to the debate, said the depreciation in the value of the naira was tragic for the campaign promises of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), adding that the trend had shown that “we are failing as a government.”
Senator Bajomo, who led the debate on the motion, asked the Senate to see the threats to the nation’s economy as represented in the consistent depreciation in the value of the naira.