A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, on Wednesday, charged the Federal Government to unlock “idle foreign exchange stashed in private vaults to strengthen the naira.
He made the call at “The Platform Nigeria,” a programme put together by a Lagos-based church, Covenant Nation, to mark this year’s Democracy Day in the country.
The Catholic Bishop of the Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, the Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, and former Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola, attended the event.
The former speaker lamented that Nigerians’ appetite for the United States Dollars was responsible for the steady decline in the value of the naira.
Dogara also charged the Federal Government to ensure the sale of the crude oil in naira.
He said: “The USD is not going away anytime soon. The challenge before the government is how to unlock and keep the USD locked up in private vaults in Nigeria to begin to chase the naira.
“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.
“The government must also 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.”
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