President Bola Tinubu on Friday urged Nigerians to patronise made-in-Nigeria products and services to sustain the recent gains of the naira in the foreign exchange market.
He said the recent appreciation of the value of the naira against the dollar does not spell Uhuru yet.
Therefore, he called for more collaboration from citizens, whom he urged to blow the whistle on persons seen engaging in practices that undermine the local currency.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, disclosed these to journalists when he delivered Tinubu’s message at a State House briefing on Friday.
Upon assuming office 10 months ago, the Tinubu administration discontinued subsidies on petrol, which, he said, would save the government monies for infrastructural expansion.
He also unified the foreign exchange rates to curb currency arbitrage. However, these moves sparked collateral instability in the value of the Naira and heaped hardship on Nigerians as food prices soared.
In February 2024, N1,900 was exchanged for one USD in the black market. The Naira has recently seen a steady climb against the US dollar, exchanging N1,382/$ at the official market on Thursday.
Ngelale argued that a stronger naira is necessary for working citizens as it would complement the new minimum wage upon implementation.
He explained, “I’m confident that Nigerians have witnessed the strengthening of the Nigerian Naira against the United States Dollar. This is clearly the direction all of us have wanted to head, and we are very sober to the fact that this is no time to rest or to clap.
“This is why His Excellency President Bola Tinubu has approved a series of interventions to ensure that we see a mass strengthening of the Nigerian Naira against all other global currencies.
“One, President Bola Tinubu, wants to communicate very clearly to our people that there has never been a more important time in our history to actively agree together that we will patronise and purchase made-in-Nigeria products across all value chains, across all sectors.
“There is an intentionality that we must have on this issue, and we want a strong currency. We want the spending power of our people to go up. We want every Naira and kobo we earn to be more valuable, not just here, but when we travel abroad, the way to achieve that is by doing just this.”
