The House of Representatives on Monday faulted the purported launch of Nigeria Air in the last days of the administration of former President, Muhammadu Buhari.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji, declared the launch of Nigeria Air a fraud after the major stakeholders in the deal between the Federal Government and Ethiopian Airlines denied knowledge of the launch.

The Ministry of Aviation claimed Nigeria Air was only unveiled and not launched, which the committee dismissed as an attempt to divert the lawmakers’ attention.

Members of the committee were shocked when NAMA disclosed that the aircraft bearing Nigerian colours was on a chartered flight to Nigeria.

Other stakeholders who confirmed the disclosure noted that a chartered flight could be painted in any colour and with any inscriptions.

The Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN) on Thursday denied devaluing the naira .

This clarification came from the
Acting Director, Corporate Communication, Dr. Isa AbdulMumin, in a statement titled, “CBN Has Not Devalued the Naira”.

He said: “The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been drawn to a news report… titled “CBN Devalues Naira To 630/31”.

“We wish to state categorically that this news report, which in the imagination of the newspaper is exclusive, is replete with outright FALSEHOODS and destabilizing innuendos, reflecting potentially willful ignorance of the said medium as to the workings of the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the exchange rate at the Investors’ & Exporters’ (I&E) window traded this moming (June 1, 2023) at N465/US$1 and has been stable around this rate for a while.”

The bank advised the public to ignore the news report in its entirety, saying it’s speculative and calculated at causing panic in the market.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) on Wednesday adjusted the pump price of petrol by over 100% to between N488 and N557.

The development followed the announcement by President Bola Tinubu during his inaugural address on Monday that fuel subsidy was ‘gone’.

However, it was learnt that the president will meet with organised labour from 2pm Thursday (today) afternoon.

The prices have now been adjusted upward from between N189 to N194 to N537 per litre in Abuja and other North-central States.

For Lagos and other South-west states, a litre of fuel now sells for between N488 and N500 per litre.

In the South-east, the price will range from N515 to N520, while in the North-west, the price of the product was raised to N540. In the North-east, it moved from N199 to N557 per litre.

For the South-south, it is now from N511 to N525 per litre. Nigeria’s subsidy budget of N3.6 trillion for this year, expires in June, 2023.