After months of insisting that he had no plans to devalue
the naira, President Muhammadu Buhari has caved to
pressure to change course; SaharaReporters has learned
from an exclusive briefing by a few top aides of the
president.

A day after the Buhari administration increased the price of
the pump price of fuel by 67%, from N86.5 to N145 a liter,
our sources disclosed that Mr. Buhari has also agreed to
demands by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that he
significantly devalues the Nigerian currency. Our sources
indicated that the naira would be pegged at N290 to one
dollar. The current official rate is about N200 to a dollar.

Our sources said Mr. Buhari and his economic team took
the decision to accept the IMF’s terms for funds that the
Nigerian government wants to access to bridge a critical
shortfall in revenue occasioned by a drastic decline in oil
revenues. An administration insider told SaharaReporters
that Nigeria could receive as much as $3 billion in credit
facilities from the IMF.

“The truth is that Nigeria cannot operate without sourcing
credit from the IMF,” said one of our sources, an economic
adviser to Mr. Buhari, who spoke on condition of
anonymity. “And the IMF was adamant that we must
devalue before they can discuss extending credit to us,” he
added.

Curiously, administration officials took the decision to
devalue the naira without the input of the Governor of the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, another
source revealed. An official of the CBN confirmed to
Saharareporters that bank executives were kept in the dark
about the discussions that led to the Buhari
administration’s decision to devalue the naira. “Some of us
here [the CBN] are not opposed to devaluation, given our
country’s present circumstances,” the source said, adding
that it was the CBN’s function to pilot Nigeria’s monetary
policies.

One of our sources pointed to the fact that the naira has
been weakened in the parallel market, where it now sells at
N360 per dollar. “The government cannot continue to
operate under the illusion that the naira is stronger than it
is. The only problem is that we did not start early enough to
admit to Nigerians how bad the financial outlook was,” the
source added.

The Nigerian economy has been pummeled by falling oil
earnings that have led to a near collapse of the economy.
The IMF had long indicated its readiness to support
Nigeria’s economy with credit liquidity but insisted on
Nigeria devaluing its currency. President Buhari had
insisted on numerous occasions, before and after his
election, that he would never devalue the naira.

It is unclear how Mr. Buhari and members of his economic
team plan to justify the about-turn on devaluation and other
policy somersaults. After initially vowing to reduce the price
of fuel, the government yesterday announced a significant
hike in fuel price. The administration also set to announce a
10% increase in value-added tax (VAT), another indication
that the Buhari government was embracing the kind of
liberalization pushed by the IMF.

To compound dwindling oil prices, militants in the oil-rich
Niger Delta region have crippled oil exports substantially
after bombing oil pipelines and issuing threats to oil
companies to leave the region.

Last week, several oil companies evacuated essential staff
from the region’s offshore platform leading to a reduction in
daily oil outputs from 2.2 million barrels a day to 1.3 million
barrels a day.

Source : http://saharareporters.com/2016/05/13/buhari-bows-imf-pressure-devalue-naira-290-dollar

Devaluation and subsidy removal = Double whammy

Nigeria embrace your change.

Where are all those zombies that hailed buhari for switching over to yuan and resisting IMF? They should come and justify this before I start calling them out and resurrecting threads.

cc: amtaken, been a while.

Now Nigerians will know the difference between a Ph.d holder and a dullard who fail maths @ school. When IMF and others advised him to devalue it since, he insisted at me Mr President Buhari will not devalue. What abt naw?...

what i read is that PPRA set the price for importation at 298naira. But if this is true, then what happened to the yen currency swap. This government is clueless and should be sacked

We MUST enjoy this CHANGE together.....

290 ke

Adebammm:
Now Nigerians will know the difference between a Ph.d holder and a dullard who fail maths @ school. When IMF and others advised him to devalue it since, he insisted at me Mr President Buhari will not devalue. What abt naw?...

Shebi u guys said he should devalue. Wen he did not u pple screamed and called ICC now he has u r calling him a dullard. Evil is faceless, it takes d form of hatred.

Like I roundly stated, devaluation has always been a question of when, not if.

Buhari just needlessly dragged the country to the gutters, he could have devalued a long time ago and we would have been somewhere around #220/$, but his strongheadedness has gotten us to this point.

Well let the naira find a bottom, stabilize and the country will be ready for economic activities again.

Those who are called "zombies" and self acclaimed "master economists" will soon be here to applaud him for another policy turnaround.

Which way naija?

What I'm seeing ahead only the elders will see it.

We know the reason why we wail... Nigeria enjoy the CHANGE you voted

enlightenedmind:


Shebi u guys said he should devalue. Wen he did not u pple screamed and called ICC now he has u r calling him a dullard. Evil is faceless, it takes d form of atred.

if he had devalued the currency when we told him to do it, the country would have been prepared for it. But now he wants to do it in the night and announce it in the morning. And not at 290

This is unbelievable......

Chai. Another devaluation. Nigeria is sinking everyday. those who voted this govt into power will bear the guilt of taking Nigeria 20yrs backward. All the progress made by Jonathan have been upturned by this govt.

I for once support this decision even though I loathe apc and buhari

ItzTun3chi:
I for once support this decision even though I loathe apc and buhari

You support devaluation. For goodness sake, Nigeria is an import dependent economy. We import almost everything. With devaluation, more naira will be needed to buy many items. Prices of all imported commodities will rise, including flight tickets abroad and everything. Why would you support devaluation without commensurate increase in salary. Na waa for u o.

What I don't get is the way people talk as if Buhari is the cause of this present economic woes.
This thing started precisely in late 2013/early 2014. I got a much better job somewhere, a financial house, but was later told that the recruitment was cancelled because of the failing economy and the company wanted to "restructure". This was Jan 2014. So what is the noise of Buhari this and that for?
You guys have no idea at all how much dollars was passed around during that 2015 elections, no idea at all. After all that please tell me why and how there won't be dollar scarcity? Don't forget this dollars are taken out of the country to foreign bank accounts o.
I still remember the worst fuel scarcity ever in Nigeria which was in April/May 2015. I still remember how almost ALL institutions and companies were shutting down, as in if Nicon hotel, media houses can shut down, then you know that wahala dey. So what's the noise of Buhari this and that for pls?
Abeggi!

Sometimes I wish GEJ won the elections just so we can see how he would have handled falling oil prices in an oil-dependent economy with the massive looting in his administration.

Unstable president always go against his word
73 years old man can not stand by his word
Buhari secretly and criminally devalue the currency

A day after the Buhari administration increased the price of the pump price of fuel by 67%, from N86.5 to N145 a liter, our sources disclosed that Mr. Buhari has also agreed to demands by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that he significantly devalues the Nigerian currency. Our sources indicated that the naira would be pegged at N290 to one dollar. The current official rate is about N200 to a dollar.

Our sources said Mr. Buhari and his economic team took the decision to accept the IMF’s terms for funds that the Nigerian government wants to access to bridge a critical shortfall in revenue occasioned by a drastic decline in oil revenues. An administration insider told SaharaReporters that Nigeria could receive as much as $3 billion in credit facilities from the IMF.

“The truth is that Nigeria cannot operate without sourcing credit from the IMF,” said one of our sources, an economic adviser to Mr. Buhari, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “And the IMF was adamant that we must devalue before they can discuss extending credit to us,” he added.

Curiously, administration officials took the decision to devalue the naira without the input of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, another source revealed. An official of the CBN confirmed to Saharareporters that bank executives were kept in the dark about the discussions that led to the Buhari administration’s decision to devalue the naira.

“Some of us here [the CBN] are not opposed to devaluation, given our country’s present circumstances,” the source said, adding that it was the CBN’s function to pilot Nigeria’s monetary policies.

You know when I read long "empty" epistles of many APC supporters regarding currency devaluation, I laugh and shake my head for them because of their ignorance of how 21st century international politics is played.. They were here praising and writing all manner of jargon in support of President's stance against devaluation. Don't get me wrong, devaluation does not help our economy in any way, but deceiving your gullible followers that you won't devalue your currency and at the same time, go hand in cap to beg for aids from this western countries is what I term dumbeism¹⁰⁰⁰ ... The reality is that Buhari will govern Nigeria under the whims and caprices of the west and if he refused, by the time they finish dealing with him, Laurent Gbagbo's treatment will be a child's play compared to what they will do to him. This is 2016 of 21st century in democracy(Western System of government) and not 1984..

arise o compassion, nigeria score lobey.

Sweetlemon:
What I don't get is the way people talk as if Buhari is the cause of this present economic woes.
This thing started precisely in late 2013/early 2014. I got a much better job somewhere, a financial house, but was later told that the recruitment was cancelled because of the failing economy and the company wanted to "restructure". This was Jan 2014. So what is the noise of Buhari this and that for?
You guys have no idea at all how much dollars was passed around during that 2015 elections, no idea at all. After all that please tell me why and how there won't be dollar scarcity? Don't forget this dollars are taken out of the country to foreign bank accounts o.
I still remember the worst fuel scarcity ever in Nigeria which was in April/May 2015. I still remember how almost ALL institutions and companies were shutting down, as in if Nicon hotel, media houses can shut down, then you know that wahala dey. So what's the noise of Buhari this and that for pls?
Abeggi!

Sometimes I wish GEJ won the elections just so we can see how he would have handled falling oil prices in an oil-dependent economy with the massive looting in his administration.

and here it is.....the "blame jonathan crew". I was wondering when you'd show up. Zombie

Sweetlemon:
What I don't get is the way people talk as if Buhari is the cause of this present economic woes.
This thing started precisely in late 2013/early 2014. I got a much better job somewhere, a financial house, but was later told that the recruitment was cancelled because of the failing economy and the company wanted to "restructure". This was Jan 2014. So what is the noise of Buhari this and that for?
You guys have no idea at all how much dollars was passed around during that 2015 elections, no idea at all. After all that please tell me why and how there won't be dollar scarcity? Don't forget this dollars are taken out of the country to foreign bank accounts o.
I still remember the worst fuel scarcity ever in Nigeria which was in April/May 2015. I still remember how almost ALL institutions and companies were shutting down, as in if Nicon hotel, media houses can shut down, then you know that wahala dey. So what's the noise of Buhari this and that for pls?
Abeggi!

Sometimes I wish GEJ won the elections just so we can see how he would have handled falling oil prices in an oil-dependent economy with the massive looting in his administration.

Someone that promised to make $1 equal N1 has moved us to N290 to a dollar and this what u could type

I feel u dearie. Defending this govt is the hardest job in history. It must suck to be a zombie at this time. I don laff una tire today

The fake "integrity" ascribed to Buhari is hindering him from making fast decisions and thus also translates to the current wave of uncertainty in the Nigerian economy.
He is as corrupt as other politicians or to an extent a lesser degree, the quicker we realize this and stop holding him to high regards, the better for us all.

Someone with a questionable Waec certificate taking us 60 years backward

People deserve te type of leaders they get


Seeing the frustration of zombies on nl and how the 'Sai baba' chanters have gone into hiding makes my day everyday

If The President drowns in lagoon, hero worshippers and sycophantic Hypocrites would applaud him for drowning even after seeing his lifeless body!


We are in for merry go round.

Sweetlemon:
What I don't get is the way people talk as if Buhari is the cause of this present economic woes.
This thing started precisely in late 2013/early 2014. I got a much better job somewhere, a financial house, but was later told that the recruitment was cancelled because of the failing economy and the company wanted to "restructure". This was Jan 2014. So what is the noise of Buhari this and that for?
You guys have no idea at all how much dollars was passed around during that 2015 elections, no idea at all. After all that please tell me why and how there won't be dollar scarcity? Don't forget this dollars are taken out of the country to foreign bank accounts o.
I still remember the worst fuel scarcity ever in Nigeria which was in April/May 2015. I still remember how almost ALL institutions and companies were shutting down, as in if Nicon hotel, media houses can shut down, then you know that wahala dey. So what's the noise of Buhari this and that for pls?
Abeggi!

Sometimes I wish GEJ won the elections just so we can see how he would have handled falling oil prices in an oil-dependent economy with the massive looting in his administration.

when people call u southwesterners all sort of names,I don't blame then.
lie that u don't know what caused that fuel scarcity? lie.
marketers were scared the incoming govt won't pay them debts owed them and decided to hold the nation to Ransome. and that was the only time we had fuel scarcity from 2011 when Jonathan took over.

how can u compare that scarcity with this one that has lasted ages and defied all solutions?

hypocrite

And the worst part is that Buhari doesn't listen to voice of reason and do things on time, it's only when things has already gotten out of hand, that's when he will still go ahead and do the same thing and by then, the damage has been done and the act will be very irrelevant. Like the saying goes, make hay while the sun shines..

vivalavida:


when people call u southwesterners all sort of names,I don't blame then.
lie that u don't know what caused that fuel scarcity? lie.
marketers were scared the incoming govt won't pay them debts owed them and decided to hold the nation to Ransome. and that was the only time we had fuel scarcity from 2011 when Jonathan took over.

how can u compare that scarcity with this one that has lasted ages and defied all solutions?

hypocrite

Oh shut up! Not every southerner against GEJ is Yoruba. Find a way of getting that into your hopelessly empty skull.

"Marketers were scared" my asss. And did you say that was the only time we had fuel scarcity under GEJ? Seriously!

Gracias!

Almajiri1:
Where are all those zombies that hailed buhari for switching over to yuan and resisting IMF? They should come and justify this before I start calling them out and resurrecting threads.

cc: amtaken, been a while.