Nigerian human rights activist and lawyer, Femi Falana, has accused the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) of sabotaging the currency swap arrangement between China and Nigeria. Falana said the Nigerian central bank and the two global financial institutions are helping to perpetuate “the dominance of the United States dollar in Nigeria.”
Nigerian Federal Government Accused of Dollarizing the Economy
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are conniving with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to sabotage the country’s currency swap arrangements, Nigerian human rights activist Femi Falana has said. In his statement published by The Punch, Falana, who is pushing for Nigeria to join Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa in the BRICS bloc, has also accused the Nigerian federal government of continuing to dollarize the economy while other nations are trying to promote their own currencies.
The claims by Falana, a lawyer, follow revelations that his country’s currency swap arrangement with China has not benefited Nigeria. As reported by Bitcoin.com News in April, some Nigerian economic experts believe the country’s five-year-old currency swap agreement with China has failed to ease pressure on the local currency. The experts believe a trade imbalance between the two countries to be one of the reasons the swap arrangement failed.
‘Economic Sabotage’
In his statement, Falana appeared to acknowledge that the swap arrangement had not achieved what Nigerian officials had hoped for. However, the activist lawyer said the collusion between the two international financiers and the CBN had made it impossible for the currency swap arrangement to work. He explained:
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank which superintend the Central Bank of Nigeria have colluded with the Central Bank of Nigeria to frustrate the currency swap. The purpose of the economic sabotage is to promote the dominance of the United States Dollar in Nigeria. Even though Nigeria has since become an important source of oil and petroleum for China’s rapidly growing economy, the Federal Government has continued to demand payment in dollars instead of nairas.
Falana also railed against the Nigerian government’s failure to follow in the footsteps of other countries that have signaled their intention to join BRICS.
The lawyer also chastised the CBN’s controversial currency redesign policy which led to the widespread shortage of naira banknotes. He argued that instead of pursuing the so-called naira redesign policy, the Nigerian government should move to renew the currency swap arrangement with China. Falana added that similar swap arrangements “with other friendly nations” should also be made.
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Terence Zimwara
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