By Abimbola Ogunnaike
President Bola Tinubu on Friday, March, 2024 called Nigerians to patronise made-in-Nigeria products and services to sustain the recent gains of the naira in the foreign exchange market.
Tinubu, who said the recent appreciation of the value of the naira against the dollar does not spell Uhuru yet, called for more collaboration from citizens.
Tinubu urged Nigerians to blow the whistle on persons seen engaging in practices that undermine the local currency.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, made this disclosure to newsmen when he delivered Tinubu’s message at a State House briefing on Friday, 22 March, 2024.
Upon assuming office 10 months ago, the Tinubu administration discontinued subsidy on petrol, which, he said, would save the government monies for infrastructural expansion.
He also unified the foreign exchange rates to curb currency arbitrage. However, these moves sparked collateral instability in the value of the Naira and heaped hardship on Nigerians as food prices soared.
In February 2024, N1,900 was exchanged for one USD in the black market. The Naira has recently seen a steady climb against the US dollar, exchanging N1,382/$ at the official market on Thursday, 21 March, 2024
Ngelale argued that a stronger naira is necessary for working citizens as it would complement the new minimum wage upon implementation.
“I’m confident that Nigerians have witnessed the strengthening of the Nigerian Naira against the United States Dollar. This is clearly the direction all of us have wanted to head, and we are very sober to the fact that this is no time to rest or to clap.
“This is why His Excellency President Bola Tinubu has approved a series of interventions to ensure that we see a mass strengthening of the Nigerian Naira against all other global currencies.
“One, President Bola Tinubu, wants to communicate very clearly to our people that there has never been a more important time in our history to actively agree together that we will patronise and purchase made-in-Nigeria products across all value chains, across all sectors.
“There is an intentionality that we must have on this issue, and we want a strong currency. We want the spending power of our people to go up. We want every Naira and kobo we earn to be more valuable, not just here, but when we travel abroad, the way to achieve that is by doing just this,” he explained
According to him, the strengthening of the Naira was achieved through collaboration with the Central Bank and other government agencies in “dealing decisively with sharp practices on certain crypto-currency trading platforms, within the parallel market of the foreign exchange ecosystem.”
To complement these efforts, the presidential spokesman said Tinubu is appealing to Nigerians to “blow the whistle wherever they see any of these sharp practices taking place, to communicate with the agencies that deal with these issues directly.
“They must do so understanding that “this is not a government versus malign actors’ issue. This is the Federal Republic of Nigeria versus malign actors’ issue, and the activities of these actors negatively impact everybody.
“So all of us have to take up the mantle and agree that we will collaborate to deal with these issues”.
Ngelale, who said the minimum wage negotiations are ongoing, warned that the efforts would be a “moot point, nullity…if we do not get a firm grip on the value of our currency.”
He noted that while the administration is poised to arrive at a new minimum wage states can afford; it also wants it pegged at a number that is “sustainable over a number of years based on the long-term stability that we want to bring to the Nigerian Naira with the interventions we’re presently making.”
