Regina Daniel’s Hubby, Ned Nwoko Gives Solution to Naira’s Problems
Following the depreciation of Nigeria’s currency, Senator Ned Nwoko has called for the prohibition of the use of foreign currency in Nigeria as one way to stop the rise.
Nwoko who made this known in an interview he granted with ThisDay said the biggest problem we have today is the use of dollars and the dependency on the dollar.
The senator who was speaking from a bill he passed titled: “Urgent Call for Immediate Prohibition of the Use of Foreign Currencies in Nigeria” and “Bill for an Act to Alter the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007, to Provide for the Prohibition of Foreign Currency Payment for Remuneration and Matters Connected Therewith” said nothing is going to work until Nigeria decides to stop using dollars.
Explaining how it will work, he said: “Once it is announced that we will stop using dollars, the government should also make sure that every account in Nigeria is only in naira, so those who have domiciliary accounts today, automatically, don’t need anybody’s consent to convert to naira and at CBN’s rate and they will close those accounts immediately.
Then you will see the value of the naira coming up. Those who are hiding dollars would be given 48 hours to bring them out and get value for it, government will not ask any questions because those who are doing it are doing it legally, we are going to give them 48 hours to bring it out and deposit it and get the naira value. If you don’t do that within 36 hours, it will become illegal.
He further explained that, once the use of the naira is announced as the only legal tender in Nigeria, every other currency becomes prohibited and it becomes a criminal offense for you to be seen with it, so the law will be put in place immediately, including something to the effect that any visitor coming to Nigeria will not be allowed to come into Nigeria with any foreign currency, if anybody is coming to Nigeria for business, for holiday or for whatever, they will have to go to Heathrow or any other airport to change dollar to naira or pounds to naira or euro to naira, which means that naira will be in demand in those countries for once. “They will become aware that we have naira, now they don’t know,” he said.
Also, he called for the need for return and domiciling of foreign reserve in Nigeria. He said for Nigeria to have foreign reserves is an anomaly.
”It is an insult that Nigeria cannot manage our foreign reserves and we have to leave our money in a foreign land, it is a big insult and they don’t seem to understand it. We just came out of a meeting with some European Union members. At the meeting, I asked the one from Italy, do you use dollars in Italy, and he said no, it is not possible, I asked the one from Greece, and he said no, it is not possible. Do you know why? It is because they value their sovereignty, they value their independence, none of these countries have what they call foreign reserves, none,” he said
He said the money we are building up to leave in a bank in America, in France, in the UK is being used by those countries for their people, “The reserves we have in the UK and America are not just waiting for Nigeria for the balance of trade and what have you, they don’t understand that that money is being used every day to lend to those who are coming to build houses, acquire houses and buy cars or create employment for others at a manageable rate,” he said.
However, he advised the president to sit up, urging him to lead, be strong, and tell Nigerians that the naira is going to become the sole currency in Nigeria and should not worry about what America would say or do.
“America will do nothing because our currency will become competitive, it will help our economy to grow, it will create jobs, and people will be able to buy houses, buy cars, invest, and do a lot other things,” he said.
He said there are problems and there are also solutions, “Mr. President might be too loyal to America to say I am not going to do this because it will affect you, the reality is this, if we stop using American or foreign currencies, America will not lose sleep because they have their money anyway and they know what to do,”
He said the issue of Naira Depreciation have made it difficult for us to compete internationally. “The naira is not usable anywhere in the world. but once he announces it the demand for the naira will make the naira have value,” he said.
