President Muhammadu Buahri insisted Friday in Abuja that he was yet to be<\/p>\n
convinced that the vast majority of ordinary Nigerians will\u00a0 derive any
\ntangible benefit from a devaluation of the Naira.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a meeting with members of the Council of Retired Federal
\nPermanent Secretaries, President Buhari said that he still held the
\nconviction which motivated his principled resistance to devaluation in his
\nfirst tenure as Head of State.<\/p>\n
“When I was military Head of State, the IMF and the World Bank wanted us
\ndevalue the Naira and remove petrol subsidy but I stood my grounds for the
\ngood of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
“The Naira remained strong against the Dollar and other foreign currencies
\nuntil I was removed from office in August, 1985 and it was devalued.<\/p>\n
“But how many factories were built and how many jobs were created by the
\ndevaluation?<\/p>\n
“That is why I’m still asking to be convinced today on the benefits of
\ndevaluation,”\u00a0 President Buhari told the retired Permanent Secretaries led
\nby Otunba Christopher Tugbobo.<\/p>\n
President Buhari welcomed the Council’s pledge of support for the
\nsuccessful implementation of his administration’s Change Agenda,
\nespecially in the priority areas of improving security, curbing corruption
\nand revitalizing the national economy.<\/p>\n
“I am glad you have rightly identified the key issues we campaigned on.<\/p>\n
“We need a dynamic bureaucracy\u00a0 which will not mislead us into taking
\nwrong decisions,” the President said.<\/p>\n
The Council of Retired Federal Permanent Secretaries was established in
\n2004 to serve as a platform for retired permanent secretaries to offer
\nconstructive advice to government on key policy issues.<\/p>\n
Chief Philip Asiodu, the Pioneer Chairman of the Council, said that its
\nmembers want the present Administration to succeed because Nigeria has
\nalready lost many opportunities for progress.<\/p>\n
“We are non-partisan. The interest of Nigeria is paramount to us and we
\nare anxious that you should succeed,” Chief Asiodu told the President.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Muhammadu Buahri insisted Friday in Abuja that he was yet to be convinced that the vast majority of ordinary Nigerians will\u00a0 derive any tangible benefit from a devaluation of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n