The Lagos State House of Assembly has decried the continued depreciation of the naira, urging Tinubu to check the worrisome trend.
As of Tuesday, a dollar hovered between N1,474 and N1,500, and the lawmakers, at plenary, advised Tinubu and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on some bold steps to take to save and shore up the value of the naira currency.
Part of the resolutions by the Lagos House on Tuesday was that the FG should come up with a mechanism to reduce foreign trips for seminars and conferences by ministries and agencies adding that it should apply to states as well.
While stressing the need to strengthen security across the nation, the House also called on the CBN: “to embark on sensitisation of Nigerians on the steps being taken by the apex bank to reduce the pressure on the naira, while informing on the expected roles of Nigerians at this time.”
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The Assembly, also urged that depositors of dollars in banks can be engaged in an acceptable arrangement where such funds could be utilised by the government to help reduce pressure on the naira.
Speaker of the Lagos House, Mudashiru Obasa, who presided over the sitting, lamented, the disparity between the dollar and naira.
Obasa, however, commended the CBN for taking some measures with the hope that such actions would yield positive results.
The speaker, who also commended the National Assembly for inviting the CBN governor for discussion recently, said: “In my opinion, the CBN and government should embark on sensitisation and information dissemination to make people understand what the government is doing.
“The pressure on the naira is too much, but the CBN should make sure that national interest is supreme.”
Obasa urged the government to regulate religious pilgrimages as they attract undue interest in dollars and put pressure on the naira.
According to him, “This action could be sustained until the naira stabilises.
“To save the naira, the federal government and states can stop foreign conferences and seminars. If possible, we can bring the resource persons to Nigeria to deliver their lectures. We all need to look inward to support the government.
“Locally, some people in Nigeria doing businesses demand dollars instead of naira. Even at parties now, you see people spraying dollars instead of naira. We need a way out and to do this, we need the support of citizens. That’s the essence of sensitisation.” #Lagos