Your inconsistent policies killing Naira, not AbokiFX, Utomi tells CBN

A Professor of political economy and management expert, Pat Utomi has said the policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) are responsible for the collapse of the naira.

It would be recalled that the CBN recently vowed to clampdown on activities of AbokiFX, accusing the online platform of sabotaging the Naira with its daily analyses of the parallel market.

The apex bank stated that it would prosecute Olumide Oniwinde Adedotun, the founder of AbokiFX.

Reacting, Utomi, founder of the Centre for Value in Leadership and the African Democratic Congress and a former presidential candidate disagreed with the decision of the CBN to prosecute the owner of AbokiFXl, stating that it is a waste of efforts and a deviation from the major problems of the foreign exchange market.

“Let us not deceive ourselves, the current order has ruined the forex market, so for those who made such decisions to now complain, I think it is uncharitable. If they continue to clamp down on this and that, then the market would collapse and we will return to where we were in the 1980s.”

According to the economic expert, it is a waste of effort and a deviation from the major problems of the foreign exchange market.

Pat Utomi said: “As a general principle, I disagree with that approach. Of course, markets need to be regulated and have boundaries, but I think that it is too easy to blame markets when sometimes the problem might be from within.

“I think there is nobody who is knowledgeable that does not know that for a number of years, policymakers were the biggest problem with the forex market.

“Let us not deceive ourselves, the current order has ruined the forex market, so for those who made such decisions to now complain, I think it is uncharitable. If they continue to clamp down on this and that, then the market would collapse and we will return to where we were in the 1980s.