Former governor of Anambra State and presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has expressed his views on how he would have handled the economy if he were in charge. In an interview with Arise TV on Monday, October 2. Obi said that Nigeria needed to devalue the naira and tackle the criminality and corruption in the foreign exchange market.
According to Obi, he would have borrowed money using a company to temporarily support the naira while working aggressively on increasing the export of goods and services. He said that this strategy was adopted by other countries that had faced similar situations and had successfully improved their current account balance.
Obi also said that he would have enforced strict penalties for those who use the dollar as an underground currency for illicit activities. He said that the dollar had become a means of corruption and criminality in the system and that it should not be used for unproductive purposes such as parties and gifts.
He quoted: “I would make sure that whatever is available is used by the real sector. Removing the criminality, I can tell you.” He added: “All these things we do with Dollar that are not productive should be removed. If you remove it, I can assure you that you can straighten the currency.”
Obi said that Nigeria had a currency called naira and that it should be respected and strengthened by removing the distortions created by inefficient pricing of foreign exchange.
He also commented on the palliatives announced by the federal government to cushion the effect of the fuel subsidy removal on Nigerians. He said that he had not been able to read the details of the latest palliatives, but he questioned whether they implied a change in the minimum wage.
He said that he was aware of the previous palliatives of N75 billion to 75 million companies and N50,000 to some businesses, but he wondered how effective they were in reaching the intended beneficiaries.