UPDATED: Amidst Fuel Hike, CBN Recieves Knocks, Debunks Naira Devaluation [full report]

Luqman AKINTUNDE reports

As petroleum price goes up to about ₦600/litre in Nigeria, it was reportedly announced in the early hours of Thursday, 1st of June, 2023 that the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has devalued Naira by 631/$1 and this has ignited reactions from Nigerians especially the traders.

It was gathered in one national daily paper that the CBN devalued the naira to ₦631 to dollar from ₦461.6 which it was sold at yesterday.

It could be recalled that Nigerians have started witnessing hardship in purchasing the petroleum few hours after the inauguration of the 16th Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Monday, 29th May, 2023.

“In his inaugural speech Tinubu said, Monetary policy needs a thorough house cleaning . The Central Bank must work towards a unified exchange rate. This will direct funds away from arbitrage into meaningful investment and jobs that power the real economy.” The national paper reported.

The mother Bank has however debunked the report in an official statement stressing that the report is neither truth nor factual in any sense.

The press release signed by the Ag. Director, Corporate Communications, Isa AbdulMumin explained that, the public is strongly advised to ignore the news in its entirety in order to avoid public unrest or panic in the market.

“We wish to state categorically that this news report, which in the imagination of the newspaper is exclusive, is replete with outright FALSEHOODS and destabilising innuendos, reflecting potentially willful ignorance of the said medium as to the workings of the Nigeria Foreign Exchange Market.” The statement buttressed.

That apex Bank rebuttal further reiterated that the exchange at the Investment & Exporters (I&E) window has remained ₦465/$1 and very stable up till the moment as it was for a while.

He lastly advised the media practitioners to always verify their facts from the Nigerian leading Bank (CBN) before any publication of information so as to not misguide the public.

Meanwhile, some Nigerians (twitter users) have picked the debunking up with the mother Bank earlier before the press release was aired and spread their anger about how such information could be called falsehoods questioning the CBN on how did the news firm got what it reported.

“So what did CBN do? What does CBN intend to do? How did Daily Trust get get whatever news they published? Make a proper rebuttal instead of tweeting like penking.” Salako angrily tweeted.

Another twit from George Onyedikachukwu advised CBN to be straight forward in its affairs of information dissemination. “Then tell us what CBN did! That’s not how to make a proper rebuttal! Don’t just say a news is fake, tell us what is correct. It’s poor communication that breeds all manner of misunderstanding and fuels fake News.”

Xeusthegreat also twitted, “I won’t make a mistake of converting right now, I won’t ever try it. Only thing moving the market right now is PANIC, and people recover from panic when it comes to fx. Let’s see.”