A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has called on the Federal Government to go after foreign exchange stashed in private vaults and sell crude oil in naira.
Dogara made the call at The Platform Nigeria, a Democracy Day program by Lagos-based church, Covenant Nation, on Wednesday, June 12, 2024.
He lamented that Nigerians are no longer confident in the naira as a store of value and urged the Federal Government to move fast to restore that faith.
The former Speaker of the House of Reps expressed belief that by unlocking “idle” foreign exchange stashed in private vaults, the monetary authorities can stabilize the wobbling naira.
“The USD is not going away anytime soon. The challenge before the government is how to unlock and make the USD locked up in private vaults in Nigeria begin to chase the naira,” Dogara said.
“That to me, is the commonsensical solution. I believe we have enough dollars in this country that we can unlock to make our economy work and crash the FX rate.”
Dogara, who was House of Reps Speaker from 2015 to 2019, added that the insatiable appetite of Nigerians for the United States’ Dollars (USD) has been a major reason for how the naira has constantly depreciated.
The former lawmaker said another reason why the naira has lost its value is that “all shady and authentic deals are closed in USD”.
He also put forward a proposal for security agencies to carry out investigations and arrest politicians and bigwigs hoarding dollars in private vaults.
“Government through credible intelligence generated by security agencies ought or should know those individuals in Nigeria who have taken advantage of the system and they have idle USD stashed in their private vaults,” he said.
“Should they fail to respond, it is my considered opinion that Mr. President should invoke and apply the MBS solution, the Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud in Saudi Arabia.
“No one who has taken advantage of the system should have the liberty to store in excess what his or her country desperately needs in other to lift millions of its people out of multidimensional poverty.
“If the current downward spiral of the naira is not arrested, I fear that we may get to a point where we will have to ditch the naira altogether… May God forbid that.”
On the issue of crude oil, Dogara called on the Federal Government to implement a policy whereby the product will be sold in naira and not in dollars.
“To achieve this, the government must demand that all Nigerian exports, including crude oil exports, be paid for in naira, just as we don’t pay for any import into Nigeria from any country in naira. It’s not too much to demand that,” he stated.
The event with the theme, ‘Democracy and the free Market Economy’ also had in attendance Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo; former Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola; the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan-Kukah; among others.
THEGUARDIAN
