The House of Representatives has rejected a motion for the stabilisation of the exchange rate.
A member of the House, Beni Lar, representing Langtang North/Lantang South Federal Constituency of Plateau State, had in a motion on the floor of the House on Wednesday titled, ‘Need to stabilise Nigeria’s foreign exchange rate’, argued that N1,000 may exchange to a dollar if nothing was done to stabilise the exchange rate.
Lar noted that “In July 1980, the exchange rate was $1 to 0.80Kobo, in July 2022, the rate was $1 to 670 Naira, while in July 2023, the exchange rate is now $1 to 815 naira, shortly after the new administration had promised during the campaigns and upon inauguration to stabilise Nigeria’s exchange rate at N200 to $1.
“In the 1980s, most of the food and products consumed were grown or produced in Nigeria. Today the Nigerian economy is mainly dependent on importation and there lies the source of the terrible exchange rate we are now experiencing.
The importation of vehicles and other commodities has dropped, since the floating of the naira by the single exchange rate. The impact of the unified exchange rates has made Nigerian students abroad to suffer tuition fees increase by over 60 per cent making the money in their bank accounts insufficient to pay school fees due to devaluation of the naira.”
