From Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
A university don, Prof. DavId Osikhena Umoru has called on the federal government to put an end to the devaluation of naira in the country.
He made the call while delivering the Edo State University Uzairue the 4th Inagural Lecture series titled “Devaluation of Naira, Shocks, and Realities: Evidence Disciplining Strength on Wednesday.
Umoru, a professor of Applied Monetary and Financial Economics in the department of Art, Management and Social Sciences, Edo University, Uzairue, said there has to be production for export before contemplating devaluing the naira.
He said Nigerian government must put an end to naira devaluation which is anchored on the fact that the naira exchange rate management is not a topic of probability.
According to him, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank ought to take cognisant of the fact that the economics that underlie the empiricism of naira exchange rates in relation to foreign currencies interprets the fact that economic growth and development of Nigeria is being short changed so shamefully as we have the valueless naira note as the only medium of exchange in our possession.
He noted that the Nigerian economy is fiscally overriding not withstanding money being an integral part of all macroeconomic variables.
He added that inconsistent macroeconomic policies are detriment to the real effective Naira-Dollar exchange rate and to employment generation.
He urged Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ensure that fiscal and monetary policies do cooperate rather than entering into a conflict with each other in the short run.
“Nigerian political forces, illicit forex traders and collaborators with foreign interest would not totally give way to market forces when it comes to Naira/Dollar exchange rate determination as they continually hype the market by manipulating the parallel rate.
The don, however, called on the government to strengthen non oil production and rejuvenate the power sector in order to arrest the ugly Nigerian economic scenario.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Engr. Prof. Emmanuel Aluyor said that university has consistently set the pace in the delivery of quality education with state of the arts educational tools and providing the needed solution in a country whose educational infrastructure has been bedeviled by a plethora of problems.
He said the university as an emerging world-class university in Nigeria has continued to bridge the gap and do all within its capacity to curb education tourism in the country.