From Uche Usim, Abuja
The presidency, on Tuesday, warned foreign exchange hoarders and speculators to turn a new leaf and let the finance market “breathe” or brace up for the rude shock ahead.
The warning comes amid unprecedented levels of speculation in recent months which has destabilized the market and sent the naira tumbling in frightening velocity.
The Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Dr Tope Fasua, who gave the warning at the “Cowries to Cash” lecture in Abuja, said a cocktail of interventions and policy tweaks were being pooled to pull the economy out of the doldrums.
Fasua, who represented the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, at the event said: “When you want to destroy a country, destroy its currency first.
“For those who are speculating and praying and wishing that the currency would become nonsense, I believe that the policies being rolled out by the Central Bank and the government that I serve, led by the President, will shock some of them.
“You need to listen to the agenda, the man himself (Tinubu) and you will see that the level at which he is thinking is far ahead of most of us.
“You know, he has some very great ideas coming up. Some of them are what you’ve seen reversing the fall in the value of the naira, but he has also challenged us to review forward, many of the targets, for example, the idea that Nigeria’s economy will get to a trillion dollars. He wants to achieve it by 2026.
“Some people thought that the naira would continue to lose value. Of course, we can already see what’s going on and who knows, maybe the Naira will strengthen even further to maybe something 500 or 600. I’m beginning to see some of those.”
The Presidential aide added that some tectonic reorganization of the banking sector was in the offing, which aims to make the naira more stable and stronger.
“If you want to position your exports properly, you have to be strategic, even in terms of the value of your currency. So you’re going to see all of these, including efforts from the fiscal side.
“We have patriots running the economy right now. And naysayers have to be very, very afraid,” Fasua added.
Also speaking, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr Yemi Cardoso, who was represented by the Director of Banking Supervision, Mr. Mustapha Haruna, reiterated that the country’s economic hiccups stemmed from a number of macroeconomic issues linked to some of the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
The CBN Governor said the book (Cowries to Cashless) would eloquently capture the evolutionary journey in the history of the CBN particularly with regards to the phenomenal transformation of the Nigerian payment system in the last two or three decades.
He added that the transformation has been deepened by the implementation of the cashless policy.
“One of our strategic priorities in this effort is to foster financial inclusion and I’m very sure you will also relate to the progress we have made based on the current numbers.
“We have financial inclusion in the neighbourhood of about 64 per cent. Over 64 per cent of Nigerians have access to formal financial services. Our vision is to push the boundaries to over 95 per cent and we are well on course, in achieving that objective.”
Cardoso assured that the CBN would continue to collaborate with the key stakeholders, particularly the fiscal authorities to ensure that it addressed a number of the essential issues and challenges currently facing the country
The author of the book and the Executive Director of Asher Global Treasures, Princess Iphie, emphasized the need to preserve the Nigerian currency, its history and place in the scheme of things.
“If you don’t know what yesterday was and you don’t know what today is, definitely you will not know what tomorrow will be. So, we started from Cowries to Manillas and then other ones before we started with the exchange of goods and then this is where we are right now — the technological age and loads of innovation.”