A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Joseph Sanusi, has disagreed with the reluctance of the federal government to devalue the Nigerian currency- naira.

Sanusi on Saturday, informer the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo that delaying the devaluation of the naira is tantamount to postponing the ‘evil day’.

Before Sanusi’s opposition to the government’s position, the Vice President had reaffirmed that the naira would not be devalued in spite of local and international pressures to devalue.

Speaking at a town hall meeting held with his neighbours in Victoria Garden City, Lagos, Osinbajo maintained that devaluation was not on the table while adding that the CBN would instead, come up with flexible exchange rate to be supported by strong monetary policies.

He stated that the foreign exchange policy of government was to stop unnecessary consumption and patronage of imported goods and promote local manufacturing.

Osinbajo further revealed that no fewer than 38 per cent of the foreign reserve was spent on importing petroleum products, adding that the previous administration spent about N20bn on food importation annually, which reduced the nation’s foreign reserve from about $40bn to about $25bn.

Consequently, the VP said the present administration was determined to diversify the economy from crude oil to agriculture and solid minerals.

Reacting to Osinbajo’s assertions, Sanusi urged the government to either devalue the currency or put an end to the confusion between the official and parallel market exchange rates.

Sanusi frowned at the situation where the official rate is at N197 per dollar, while the parallel market sold for over N300, was distractive.

“Naira is already devalued and government not accepting it is postponing the evil day.”