President Muhammadu Buhari says he is yet to be convinced that Nigeria and its people will derive any tangible benefit from an official devaluation of the naira.
Speaking on Wednesday at an interactive meeting with Nigerians living in Kenya, President Buhari maintained that while export-driven economies could benefit from devaluation of the currencies, devaluation will only result in further 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 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 Bureau de Change (BDC), saying that the Bureau de Change business had become a scam and a drain on the economy.
He alleged that some bank and government officials used surrogates at official rates and selling it at much higher rates.
Buhari reaffirmed his conviction that about a third of petroleum subsidy payments under the previous administration were bogus.
He 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 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.
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