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U.S to pressurize Nigeria to devalue Naira

This is to boost U.S investment in the Nigerian economy, Secretary of State for Africa, according to Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who divulged this to the audience at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

 

This is to boost U.S investment in the Nigerian economy, according to Secretary of State forAfrica Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

She says Nigeria should ensure the value of the naira currency versus the U.S. dollar is “more realistic.”

“While most people complain about the possibility of there being a devaluation, people are already operating on a devalued currency, and the only people who are not, are people who are doing it officially,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

“Our recommendation is, and we will have discussions about it … that they should look at the exchange rate and try to make the exchange rate more realistic to what the value of the naira is to the dollar,” she continued.

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Officials from the State Department, Pentagon and Treasury and their counterparts in the Nigerian government are slated to have a meeting on Thursday in Washington.

Nigeria faces its worst economic crisis in decades as the falling price of oil has slashed revenues, prompting the central bank to peg the currency and introduce curbs to protect foreign exchange reserves, which have fallen to an 11-year low.

Some members of Nigeria’s central bank monetary policy committee have said the naira should be devalued. However, President Muhammadu Buhari has said devaluation will not bring any benefit whatsoever to the Nigerian economy.

According to online reports, Nigerian cleric T.B. Joshua had warned Buhari in his ‘prophecy’ for 2016 of the impending pressure ahead of him to devalue the Nigerian currency, despite his insistence against adopting such a measure.

“The president will do everything to reject revaluation of the naira - which is a good idea from a good leader,” the controversial pastor said in his widely circulated list of ‘predictions’ released on December 31 2015.

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“But there will be overwhelming pressure which he will not be able to resist,” he concluded, calling on Nigerians to pray for their leader in lieu of a bleak future.

Thomas-Greenfield said the parallel currency market in Nigeria was “alive and well,” warning that a rigid exchange rate, capital controls and import bans could undermine President Muhammadu Buhari’s efforts to expand economic growth and fight corruption.

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