By Felix Kuyinu
Members of the Lagos State House of Assembly has urged the Federal Government and Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to implement measures in curbing the ongoing devaluation of the Naira currency.
The House spoke on the urgent need to examine the widening gap between the Naira and other currencies stating that it has grossly affected the economy and standard of living in the country.
Speaker of the House, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa 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 and that is why the CBN should make sure that national interest is supreme.”
The speaker during the plenary proposed ways the anornaly could be corrected saying, “We urge the government to regulate religious pilgrimages as they attract undue interest in dollars and further pressure the naira and this action should be sustained until the naira stabilises.
“The federal government should minimize foreign trips for seminars and conferences by ministries and agencies, with states following suit. If possible, we can bring the resource persons to Nigeria to deliver their lectures. We all need to look inward to support the government.
“The depositors of dollars in banks could be engaged in discussions to devise acceptable arrangements whereby such funds could be utilized by the government to alleviate pressure on the naira.
“Locally, some people in Nigeria doing businesses demand dollars instead of naira. Even at parties now, you see people spray dollars. We need a way out and to do this, we need the support of citizens. That’s the essence of sensitization.”
Lawmaker representing Kosofe Constituecy 02, Femi Saheed lamented that the current naira-dollar disparity is the direct consequence of the policies of the Godwin Emefiele-led CBN.
According to him, the naira will gain strength if measures, including fixing the refineries and strengthening the education and health sectors are taken.
The Legislator admonished the current CBN governor to work on moral suasion to get people to pull out the dollars in their domiciliary account.”
