President Bola Tinubu has urged Nigerians to patronize domestically made goods and services as a means to sustaining and improving the recent gains of the Naira in the foreign exchange market.
The Naira has been firming up against other currencies after an initial crash in February to an all time low of N1,960 to the USD. On Thursday, it exchanged for N1,382 to USD.
The presidential directive was conveyed by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, on Friday at Aso Villa, Abuja.
Ngelale attributed the strengthening of the Naira to efforts between the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other governmental bodies which addressed certain illicit activities with some cryptocurrency platforms within the parallel foreign exchange market that was negatively impacting the Naira.
He said the president wants a strong Naira for the working class, and expressed the hope that the current momentum will complement the forthcoming new minimum wage that is being negotiated.
The president, according to Ngelale, expects Nigerians to prioritize locally made products and services “across all value chains and across all sectors” to sustain the improving FX market.
“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.”
Furthermore, he said the president wanted more collaboration from citizens to report any person or persons engaging in practices that undermines the Naira.
“To complement these efforts, President 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.”
But citizens are looking to the government and its officials to set the right examples. Last year, members of the Nigerian parliament voted humungous sums to purchase imported SUV cars for the legislators, in a country with several indigenous car manufacturers hungry for public sector patronage.
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