Naira Decline Tied to Buhari Government’s Overprinting — Oshiomhole

Senator Adams Oshiomhole has attributed the sharp decline of the naira to excessive money printing under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, facilitated through the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Ways and Means facility.

Speaking on Saturday during an interactive session hosted by the Progressives Governors Forum in Benin City, Edo State, the Edo North senator said the controversial fiscal policy significantly weakened Nigeria’s currency against the US dollar.

The Ways and Means provision allows the Federal Government to obtain temporary advances from the CBN to bridge shortfalls in revenue. However, Oshiomhole claimed the Buhari administration abused the provision by printing over ₦31 trillion without corresponding economic backing.

“We are coming from a situation not far from what happened in Zimbabwe or Idi Amin’s Uganda,” he said. “In Uganda, the president once instructed the central bank to print more money for distribution. The bank governor warned that doing so would reduce the currency to worthless paper.”

“That is exactly what the former CBN governor did here. In the Senate, we have records showing that over ₦31 trillion was printed under what they called ‘Ways and Means’. It’s a fancy term, but in plain language, it means printing money out of thin air, without earnings or reserves, just to meet short-term political demands,” Oshiomhole said.

The former Edo State governor argued that this unchecked monetary expansion was the root cause of the current cost-of-living crisis and volatile exchange rate.

“To understand why inflation is so high and why the naira is struggling, you must go back to the excessive printing of money under the last government. Thankfully, the Tinubu administration has discontinued that reckless practice,” he added.

Oshiomhole also criticized Nigeria’s rising debt profile, describing it as unsustainable. “We were borrowing like fish drinks water,” he said. “Now it is President Tinubu’s burden to repay those debts and stabilize the country.”

The Senate in 2024 launched an ad-hoc committee to investigate the CBN’s use of the Ways and Means facility and the implementation of the Anchor Borrowers Programme under the previous administration