The Presidency has cautioned Nigerians who are hoarding foreign currencies to stop forthwith, warning that the policies of the government would shock them.
The Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Dr Tope Fasua, disclosed this at the “Cowries to Cash” lecture and lunch on Tuesday in Abuja.
He disclosed that the President Bola Tinubu’s administration is working on policies that will strengthen the naira.
There has been a steady rise in the value of the naira owing to the clearing of outstanding FX backlogs owed to banks, leading to significant losses for speculators.
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But the Presidency said the trend is expected to continue as a result of policies being implemented by the government.
While positing that the fall in the value of the currency of a country is a sign of conquest, he said, “When you want to destroy a country, destroy its currency first.”
Fasua, representing the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, at the event, added, “For those who are speculating and praying and wishing that the currency would become nonsense, I believe that the policies are being rolled out by the Central Bank and the government that I serve, led by the President, will shock some of them.
“You need to listen to the agenda, the man himself (Tinubu) and you will see that the level at which he is thinking is far ahead of most of us.
“You know, he has some very great ideas coming up. Some of them are what you’ve seen reversing the fall in the value of the naira, but he has also challenged us to review forward many of the targets, for example, the idea that Nigeria’s economy will get to a trillion dollars. He wants to achieve it by 2026.
“Some people thought that the naira would continue to lose value. Of course, we can already see what’s going on and who knows, maybe the Naira will strengthen even further to maybe something 500 or 600. I’m beginning to see some of those.”
He said there was going to be some radical reorganisation of the banking sector to make the naira more stable and stronger.
“If you want to position your exports properly, you have to be strategic, even in terms of the value of your currency. So you’re going to see all of these, including efforts from the fiscal side.
“We have patriots running the economy right now. And naysayers have to be very, very afraid,” Fasua added.
