President Muhammadu Buhari declared late Wednesday in Nairobi that he was
yet to be convinced that Nigeria and its people will derive any tangible
benefit from an official devaluation of the Naira.
Speaking at an interactive meeting with Nigerians living in Kenya,
President Buhari maintained that while export-driven economies could
benefit from devaluation of their 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 to having 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 Bureaux de Change (BDCs),
saying that the Bureau de Change business had become a scam and a drain on
the economy.
“We had just 74 of the bureaux in 2005, now they have grown to about
2,800,” President Buhari noted.
He alleged that some bank and government officials used surrogates to run
the BDCs and prosper at public expense by obtaining foreign exchange from
government at official rates and selling it at much higher rates.
“We will use our foreign exchange for industry, spare parts and the
development of needed infrastructure.
“We don’t have the Dollars to give to the BDCs. Let them go and get it
from wherever they can, other than the Central Bank,” President Buhari
told the gathering.
The President reaffirmed his conviction that about a third of petroleum
subsidy payments under the previous administration was bogus.
“They just stamped papers and collected our foreign exchange,” he said.
The President 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 that 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.