Frustration was growing over the continued depreciation of the naira against the dollar at the weekend, with the local currency weakening to N1, 099 against the greenback at the official window and N1, 200 at the spot market.
Bola Tinubu had severely criticised former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, for, allegedly, running the economy aground and mismanaging foreign exchange.
He later suspended some of the initiatives in place since Emefiele to stimulate domestic production as well as boost FX earnings. At the inception of the current administration, the naira stood at N462 to the US dollar at the official rate and N758 at the black market.
One of the drastic measures embarked upon by Tinubu on assumption of office was unifying the exchange rate as well as floating the local currency.
By that move, he was believed to have only yielded to pressure from international investors and rating agencies, who had long pressured Emefiele to allow market forces determine the real value of the naira.
Prior to the floating of the local currency, CBN had adopted a managed-floating regime, where the bank intervened in the market when necessary.
The previous leadership of the apex bank had argued that countries that had free-floated their currencies had stronger export base and were heavily industrialised, and, thus, were able to earn foreign exchange.
But, since the administration of Tinubu floated the naira and unified the exchange rate, the local currency had been under severe pressure with no end in sight at the moment.
The implication of the continued depreciation of the naira is increased hardship on Nigerians amid rising inflation, now at 27.33 per cent as of October.