Buhari rejects devaluation of Naira

President Muhammadu Buhari declared late Wednesday in
Nairobi, Kenya, that he was yet to be convinced that Nigeria and
its people will derive any tangible benefit from an official
devaluation of the Naira.

Speaking at an interactive meeting with Nigerians living in
Kenya, President Buhari maintained that while export-
driven economies could benefit from devaluation of their
currencies, devaluation will only result in further inflation and
hardship for the poor and middle classes in Nigeria’s
import-dependent economy.

The president added that he had no intention of bringing further
hardship on the country’s poor who, he said, have suffered
enough already.

Likening devaluing the Naira to having it “killed”, President
Buhari said that proponents of devaluation will have to work
much harder to convince him that ordinary Nigerians will
gain anything from it.

The president also rejected suggestions that the Central
Bank of Nigeria should resume the sale of foreign exchange to
Bureaux de Change (BDCs), saying that the Bureau de
Change business had become a scam and a drain on the
economy.

“We had just 74 of the bureaux in 2005, now they have grown
to about 2,800,” President Buhari noted.

He alleged that some bank and government officials used
surrogates to run the BDCs and prosper at public expense by
obtaining foreign exchange from government at official
rates and selling it at much higher rates.

“We will use our foreign exchange for industry, spare parts and the development
of needed infrastructure.
“We don’t have the Dollars to give to the BDCs. Let them go and get it from wherever they can, other than the Central Bank,” President Buhari told the gathering.

The president reaffirmed his conviction that about a third of petroleum subsidy
payments under the previous
administration was bogus.

“They just stamped papers and collected our
foreign exchange,” he said.

The president appealed to Nigerians studying abroad to bear with his
administration as it strives to address the challenges they are facing as a result of new
foreign exchange measures.

He said that he was optimistic that the Nigerian economy will stabilize soon with
the efficient implementation of measures and policies that have been introduced by
his administration.