By Chukwuma Umeorah
Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, has advised President Bola Tinubu to go after those sabotaging his efforts at solving free fall of the Naira.
Reacting to the weakening of naira against other currencies, during the 2024 edition of Odun Aje Festival, he restated the need to strengthen the naira.
The Yoruba generalissimo challenged President Tinubu to go after any individual or investor working against his administration’s resolve to strengthen the local currency.
He also urged the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Yemi Cardoso and other government financial institutions to do everything possible to stop fraudulent transactions of dollar to naira and round-tripping to salvage the nation’s economy.
While noting that the free fall of the local currency which made the dollar sell for N1,650, said the fact remained that the naira is weakened by the illegal businesses of the saboteurs.
“Today the naira is sold at N1650 to a dollar. It is a fact that the naira is weakened by the illegal businesses of the saboteurs.There is an urgent need for us to strengthen the naira from daily free fail.
“Now is the time for the Federal Government to go after those bent on sabotaging the efforts of this administration.
“I will appeal to President Tinubu, the CBN governor and all government financial institutions to go after any individual or investor working against the Federal Government’s resolve to strengthen the naira.
“The fraudulent transaction of dollars to naira and round-tripping must be stopped to save our economy. The Nigerian economy is in a serious trouble and there is an urgent need for a better approach to save the naira.”
Iba Adams also lamented that Nigeria was losing much of the respect of the global community because of the weak status of her currency, pointing out that by global standard, every country gets the respect of others as a result of the strength of her currency.
According to him, a country with a viable and strong currency will naturally earn the respect of others while one with a weak currency would continue to look up to others for both social and economic survival while the power or the strength of a country’s currency also translates to how much respect the citizens of that country gets among the citizens of the world.
“As our naira continues to fall, it is no doubt that Nigeria will be at the mercy of other countries that have strong value for their currencies.
“Even the global investors would not take a country with a weak currency seriously.
“Let me also say it also that a weak currency will always affect local production, especially in a situation where most of the materials needed for the productions of the local products are not made in Nigeria.
“Weak currency will certainly affect the economy. The cost of living will surely be high and the inflation will continue to bite harder and harder. Weak currency will also promote corruption and further sink the country deeper.
“Therefore, I am appealing to President Tinubu to make sure that the naira bounces back and regains its strength against the dollar and other global currencies.
“It is not impossible for us to have our naira gaining strength and bouncing back to at least N500 to a dollar within the next one year.
“The government has the capacity and wherewithal to change the ugly narratives of the Nigerian currency. Government should be ready to go after the saboteurs. It is an irony of fate to say that the Nigerian currency today is 50 percent weaker and below the CFAs.
“I remembered in 2014, when we travelled on an official tour of Togo, Benin Republic and Cotonou for the inauguration of Oodua Progressive Union (OPU), the CFA was just 28 percent of the naira
“But today, the 1,000 naira to CFA in Cotonou 421,64500 is a huge gap. The difference is too obvious for us to know that our naira has lost its value,” he added.
On the importance of Odun Aje Festival, Iba Adams described it as unique, saying it was a celebration of the deity in charge of wealth and one of the tools that binds the world together.
He said one of the reasons the group headed by him had continued to celebrate Odun Aje “is for us to regain the lost glory of the Yoruba race,” adding that another important reason “is to change the narratives of our poor past and also to keep the hope alive.”