The Presidency has cautioned forex speculators to relinquish their holdings in Dollars, asserting that the Naira is on the verge of appreciation.
President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, reiterated this call in a statement released through his official channel on Thursday.
Onanuga implored speculators to swiftly dispose of their dollars to prevent impending losses. “With backlog FX settled, Naira is set to appreciate further, faster. Currency speculators should quickly dump their stock of dollars to avoid sorrows and tears,” he emphasized.
The advisory came in response to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s revelation that it had resolved the $7 billion foreign exchange backlog inherited by Governor Yemi Cardoso.
In a statement on Wednesday, CBN’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Mrs Hakama Sidi Ali, confirmed the settlement of all valid FX backlog claims.
Ali said the apex bank employed Deloitte Consulting, an independent auditing firm, to meticulously assess the transactions, ensuring that only legitimate claims were honoured.
“Any invalid transactions were referred to the relevant authorities for further investigation,” she stated.
The CBN’s commitment to tackling the FX backlog appears to be paying off, with the external reserves seeing a significant rise, reaching $34.11 billion as of March 7, 2024, the highest level in eight months.