(http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/thumbnail.php?file=falana_659121086.jpg&size=article_medium)
Lagos lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana,has raised the alarm over the declining strength of the Naira in the last few weeks and called for the immediate deregulation of the Central Bank (CBN).
He is holding the apex bank for the fate of the national currency.
He said: "Last year,the International Monetary Fund directed the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) to devalue the national currency. The dubious directive was flatly rejected by the CBN in the national interest. But shortly thereafter, the CBN Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was in Washington to attend a conference organised by imperialist forces on the Nigerian economy.
"Since then the Naira has been regularly devalued to the detriment of the country.Specifically, the value of the Naira has plummeted against the US dollar through reckless manipulation by the management of the CBN on the orders of the the IMF. In the last few weeks, the Naira which exchanged for N150 per dollar is now N160.
" In order to supervise the destruction of the economy the IMF has two staff "working" in the CBN! It is common knowledge that the CBN has become a bureau de change whose main duty is the weekly sale of hundreds of millions of dollars which are largely round tripped by the cartel of fuel importers and other economic parasites.In a deregulated economy the CBN cannot to trade over 80 percent of all the dollars traded in the forex market.
"Another means of destroying the Naira is the illegal monthly removal of huge revenue from the Federation Account by the CBN for the purpose of changing same to Naira for distribution to the three tiers of Government. Since section 162 of the Constitution prescribes that all revenues collected by the Federal Government shall be paid into the Federation Account the CBN has no powers to remove funds paid into the Account in foreign currencies and change same to naira at rates unilaterally fixed by the management of the Bank.With effect from January 2012, the three tiers of government should be issued with dollar certificates in respect of dollar derived revenue. This is in line with the policy of government enunciated in the Vision 2020 document.
The Nation