Buhari rejects devaluation of Naira, says "I won't kill the Naira"
President Muhammadu Buhari declared late Wednesday in Nairobi that he was yet to be convinced that Nigeria and its people will derive any tangible benefit from an official devaluation of the Naira. Speaking at an interactive meeting with Nigerians living in Kenya, President Buhari maintained that while export-driven economies could benefit from devaluation of their currencies, devaluation will only result infurther inflation and hardship for the poor and middle classes in Nigeria's import-dependent economy.
The
President added that he had no intention of bringing further hardship
on the country's poor who, he said, have suffered enough already.
Likening
devaluing the Naira to having it "killed", President Buhari said that
proponents of devaluation will have to work much harder to convince him
that ordinary Nigerians will gain anything from it.
The
President also rejected suggestions that the Central Bank of Nigeria
should resume the sale of foreign exchange to Bureaux de Change (BDCs),
saying that the Bureau de Change business had become a scam and a drain
on the economy.
"We had just 74 of the bureaux in 2005, now they have grown to about 2,800," President Buhari noted.
He
alleged that some bank and government officials used surrogates to run
the BDCs and prosper at public expense by obtaining foreign exchange
from government at official rates and selling it at much higher rates.
"We will use our foreign exchange for industry, spare parts and the development of needed infrastructure.
"We
don't have the Dollars to give to the BDCs. Let them go and get it from
wherever they can, other than the Central Bank," President Buhari told
the gathering.
The President reaffirmed his
conviction that about a third of petroleum subsidy payments under the
previous administration was bogus.
"They just stamped papers and collected our foreign exchange," he said.
The
President appealed to Nigerians studying abroad to bear with his
administration as it strives to address the challenges they are facing
as a result of new foreign exchange measures.
He
said that he was optimistic that the Nigerian economy will stabilize
soon with the efficient implementation of measures and policies that
have been introduced by his administration.
Garba Shehu
SSA to the President
(Media & Publicity)
January 28, 2016
Buhari rejects devaluation of Naira, says "I won't kill the Naira"
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