The government in Nigeria has attributed the fluctuation of the nation’s economy to the activities of some people it tagged ‘economic terrorists’.
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, threw the allegation while briefing newsmen in Abuja. Mr. Malami said the economic crisis was a clear indication that the currency was being deliberately undermined by those he branded “economic terrorists”.
“As a responsible government, we cannot allow such a situation anchored on unlawful alliances and criminal enterprise to continue unchecked, when it is apparent that its primary objective is to sabotage the economic agenda of the present administration”, he said.
The AGF further alleged that the elements, having failed in their attempts to force devaluation of the Naira, aligned to create an artificial currency situation whose primary purpose was to undermine the economic programme of Buhari’s administration.
He further disclosed that, “We are witnessing manipulative and coordinated speculative activities in the foreign exchange market leading to the current wide differential between the official rate at the Central Bank of Nigeria and the parallel market rate, respectively, in a manner that defies rational economic analysis.
“These nefarious speculative activities exert further pressure on the Naira exchange rate and have created a very wide artificial differential between the aforesaid two rates which are now being exploited by unscrupulous individuals and institutions.
“Accordingly, the differential has given rise to sharp practices and rent seeking activities by these entities that run contrary to various provisions of the laws governing the conduct of the foreign exchange market and our anti-money laundering regime.”
He explained that some of the noticed infractions included rounds tripping of foreign exchange sourced from the Interbank Market, rendition of false foreign exchange utilisation data, non-repatriation of export proceeds, among others.
His words: “In consonance with the policy thrust of this administration to have a zero-tolerance level for corruption, he therefore directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other relevant security agencies to further investigate and confirm the information already available to government about the nefarious activities of these elements within and outside our national institutions.”