Tinubu lied, claim dollar to naira exchange was N1,900 when he took over from Buhari, whereas it was traded at N461/$1
However, records show that the official exchange rate at the time he took over from former President Muhammadu Buhari was N461 to the dollar...
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Tinubu lied, claim dollar to naira exchange was N1,900 when he took over from Buhari, whereas it was traded at N461/$1
President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday falsely claimed that he rescued the naira from historic lows caused by his predecessor, the late Muhammadu Buhari, boasting that he brought the dollar exchange rate down from N1,900 to N1,450 when he assumed office in 2023.
Speaking at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday during a meeting with former members of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the president boasted that he inherited an exchange rate of N1,900 to a dollar but had since stabilised it at about N1,450.
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“When I took over, it was N1,900 to a dollar. It’s N1,450 now. It’s been stabilising there. You don’t have to know Cardoso before you get your foreign exchange,” Mr Tinubu said.
However, records show that the official exchange rate at the time he took over from former President Muhammadu Buhari was N461 to the dollar, while the parallel market traded between N750 and N900. Under Buhari, the Central Bank of Nigeria, then led by Godwin Emefiele, had pumped billions of dollars into the market to prevent the naira from crashing beyond N1,000.
The president’s controversial free float policy, introduced shortly after his inauguration, removed that protection and allowed market forces to determine the value of the naira. The move quickly widened inflation and pushed the exchange rate to unprecedented levels above N1,000, eventually peaking at N1,900 earlier this year.
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Despite widespread criticism, Mr Tinubu has defended the policy as a painful but necessary step for long-term economic stability. “The economy has stabilised, nobody is trading a piece of paper for an exchange rate anymore,” he insisted.
But many Nigerians disagree, pointing out that the naira has become one of the worst-performing currencies globally under his administration, deepening the cost-of-living crisis in a country heavily reliant on imports.
