President Bola Tinubu and the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), have received a three billion dollars firepower from African Export-Import Bank, (AFREXIM) in Cairo to help them fight the so-called speculators that have ambushed the local currency.
According to a statement issued late yesterday, the state oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, (NNPCL), the NNPCL and Afrexim Bank have jointly signed a commitment letter and term sheet for an emergency $3bn crude oil repayment loan.
It was learnt that senior oil officials from the NNPCL, NUPRC as well as the Federal Inland Revenue Service, (FIRS) were holed up in meetings with officials of AFREXIM Bank at the banks headquarters in Cairo yesterday morning hoping to ink a deal for an immediate foreign exchange support for Nigeria.
According to the statement, the signing will provide some immediate disbursement that will enable the NNPC Limited to support the Federal Government in its on-going fiscal and monetary policy reforms aimed at stabilizing the exchange rate market.
The loan may require the Nigerian Government to secure it by pledging a portion of its royalty crude oil. However, many believe this will be enough to ease the FX volatility that has created several crises for the nation.
Some analysts have called the loan a mere band aid, while others have questioned taking a loan of this size without a cabinet in place and without clear plans to combat insecurity in the Niger-Delta, as well as raising oil production to 2m barrels a day and also stopping the banditry in many parts of the country which has driven farmers away from the farms.
