&w=64&q=75)
Senator representing Borno South in the 10th National Assembly Mohammed Ali Ndume has alleged that the Federal Government is profiting from the nosediving naira value against the United States dollar.
Ndume, the Chief Whip of the Senate, disclosed this while speaking on why the naira has continued to depreciate against the dollar in an interview with Channels Television on Wednesday, February 21, 2024.
He stressed that the fall of the naira hasn't in any way resulted in a loss for the government, rather, the trend is helping the nation generate more revenue to fund the 2024 budget.
He argued that the Federal Government would have more naira to spend on its expenditures as the value of the dollar continues to soar.
The Senator called attention to the fact that the 2024 budget heavily relies on dollar income because a significant portion of government revenue stems from crude exports priced in the currency.
While emphasising that the nation is positioned to gain from the prevailing exchange rate between the dollar and the naira, Ndume noted that crude oil, Nigeria's primary export, remains highly sought after.
“Don’t forget that this budget is a ‘dollarized’ budget, especially in terms of income. And when it comes to the terms of the expenditure, it’s in naira.
“So if we are getting our money in dollars and the value of the dollar is up, that means we will have more naira in terms of what we spend because we are not spending in dollars, we are spending in naira, while we are getting our revenue in dollars.
“Truly, the value of naira against the dollar has fallen but we are selling our major product that generates income in dollars. And that means any dollar we get now will also be valued at the current dollar-to-naira exchange rate.
“So if you do the analysis critically, it may mean if you balance it up, we may have more money to fund our budget. So technically, Nigeria is even benefiting from the dollar-to-naira hike,” he said.