Senate summons Emefiele as dollar hits N700

The Senate has summoned the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, over the continuos depreciation of naira.

The naira is currently trading between N690 and N700 per dollar at the parallel market, a situation that has caused Nigerians to raise the alarm.

The summoning of Emefiele followed a motion by Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi (APC, Ekiti North).

Contributing to the debate, Sani Musa, senator representing Niger East, said the naira would appreciate if we consume what we produce.

On her part, Biodun Olujimi, Senator representing Ekiti South, accused the CBN of taking responsibility to defend the naira.

Olujimi said: “Most of what is happening is because people are taking out the dollar and selling and bringing them back in — we should be penalising somebody for what has happened to the naira-dollar rate.

“The time has come for us to look holistically into what is happening. What is happening to the dollar is a replica of what is happening to Nigeria.”

The upper legislative chamber asked the apex bank to stop the rapid decline of the value of the naira.

The motion was adopted after Senate President Ahmad Lawan put it to a voice vote.