By Abubakar Yunusa
Kingsley Moghalu, former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has praised the decision to transfer revenue of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to the apex bank.
Moghalu’s comment followed the announcement by Olayemi Cardoso, governor of CBN, that NNPC and the ministry of finance have agreed to remit their foreign exchange inflows to the apex bank, to boost the nation’s external reserves.
Cardoso disclosed this during his speech at the launching of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) macroeconomic outlook report on January 24, 2024.
Reacting to this development, Moghalu, in a post on X on Tuesday, said the move had “long been overdue”.
He said though the move might not translate to solving the weak naira, it was a way of promoting transparency.
“President Bola Tinubu’s decision that official NNPCL revenues be deposited by CBN is a bold and necessary one and long overdue,” Moghalu said.
“The opacity of the NNPC has long been a problem for Nigeria and its fiscal management, but no President has had the political will to do this.”
Moghalu said the decision will likely not solve the naira’s woes but as a principle of government transparency, the move is helpful.
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