The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso said that the daily depreciation of the Naira was due to the increasing number of Nigerians going abroad to study.
He also stated that the indiscriminate medical tourism abroad by many Nigerians was also a contributing factor to the fall of the Naira to major currencies like the US Dollar, British Pounds and Euro.
Cardoso made the disclosure at the ongoing sectoral debate at the House of Representatives.
Addressing members of the House on the skyrocketing cost of living in Nigeria, the CBN boss said:
“Volume on transactions on our market was over 800 million dollars. The cost of living remains a concern. The urgency of the matter is not lost on us. We are working to bring lasting solutions. CBN worked at bringing down Inflation to 21.4 percent aided by improved agricultural productivity.
“To address exchange rate volatility we will improve liquidity. These come with economic costs, which are temporary.
“There’s increasing demand for dollars with an increase in Nigerian students studying abroad, projected to have exceeded 100,000 by 2022. Given this data, 28.6bn dollars, education and medical tourism are also leading to increasing demand for dollars.”
Several top government functionaries including the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Zach Adedeji and the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Abubakar Bagudu. are also waiting to brief the House on the activities of their offices in tackling the current economic problems facing the country.
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu has been in Paris France on a “private visit” and it is not clear when the president will return to the country.
