…Targets N1000/$ exchange rate
…1000 MSMEs to access N150b from BoI,
…1 million nano enterprises to access N50,000 cash transfer
By Johnbosco Agbakwuru, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu on Friday, urged Nigerians to Patronize home-made goods in order to strengthen the value of the naira.
This is as the Federal Government has said that all necessary measures are being used to tighten noose on foreign exchange speculators to make the naira stronger against foreign currencies.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Ajuri Ngelale, who disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents on the ongoing plans to strengthen the naira, said the government is focusing on patronizing and purchasing made in Nigeria goods
He disclosed that over one million nano enterprises have been selected to access N50,000 free cash transfer
Ngelale, while harping on recent federal government efforts to tackle foreign exchange racketeering, noted that there has been a significant shift in the nation’s foreign exchange market following the intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
As part of plans to strengthen the economy, the federal government cleared $7 billion foreign exchange debts which has further helped to ease pressures on the naira.
He said, “I’m certain that everyone seated here and indeed Nigerians at large have witnessed the seismic shifts that have taken place within the nation’s foreign exchange market over the course of the last several days and the strengthening of the Nigerian Naira against the United States dollar.
“This is clearly the direction all of us have wanted to heading. And we are very sober to the fact that this is no time to rest or to clap. This is a time to deepen our efforts to dig in and to work harder, which is why His Excellency President Bola Ahmed 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, His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed 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 patronize and purchase made-in-Nigeria products across all value chains across all sectors.
“There is an intentionality that we must have on this issue that 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.
“In addition to that, His Excellency Mr. President beyond the appeal to Nigerians to actively and intentionally make that decision every day to patronize made in Nigeria products and services across the board, he is also wanting to ensure that Nigerians fully understand that the momentum that we are now seeing with respect to the strengthening of our currency is not going to slow down.
“The efforts that Mr. President has put in place with collaboration with other agencies of government, as well as the Central Bank of Nigeria, in dealing decisively with sharp practices on certain cryptocurrency trading platforms, dealing decisively with sharp practices within the parallel market of the foreign exchange ecosystem that these things are now yielding fruit.
“What we now will need to see is an active effort on the part of our people to blow the whistle wherever they see any of these sharp practices taking place, to communicate with the agencies directly that deal with these issues and understanding that this is not a government versus malign actors issue.
“This is a Federal Republic of Nigeria versus malign actors issue and the activities of these actors negatively impact everybody seated in this room and everybody watching this, this broadcast and all Nigerians both at home and abroad.
“So all of us have to take up the mantle and agree that we will collaborate together to deal with these issues.”
Continuing, he said, “Second of all, President Bola Tinubu is going to ensure that our micro small and medium scale enterprises in the country have what they need to get through this difficult period which is why he has approved the Presidential conditional grant scheme in which over one million Nigerian businesses will be empowered with conditional grants this is money they will not have to pay back of up to N50,000 per nano enterprise.
“With over one million Nano enterprises being selected and granted these funds within each and every local government area of the Federation.
“In addition to that, over N150 billion is being disbursed from the Bank of Industry and SMEDAN on single digit interest rate, loans of up to N2 million to hundreds of 1000s of small and medium scale enterprises across all local government areas of the Federation.
“And of course, the President is determined to ensure that we steer lending toward labour intensive and inclusive you know developing sectors of the economy, ensuring that sectors like agriculture and manufacturing get the bulk of lending moving forward. Sectors like construction, the same thing.
“We want to ensure that those industries and sectors that are massively employing our people are those industries that are prioritized with respect to government intervention, which is why the President has approved over N75 billion to be dispersed to 75 large scale manufacturers across all states of the Federation.
“These are going to be manufacturers who employ over 1000 Nigerians in each of their facilities and industries. We are going to ensure that they have the support that they need at the large scale, so that Nigerian families who rely on these large scale businesses are protected.
“We want to see our large scale industries, not just refuse to fire people, but to actively increase and expand their hiring at this difficult time.”
He said that the President is doing everything he can to ensure that he steps in to ease the burden on families while also ensuring that he holds the public sector and the federal government of Nigeria accountable to prudent spending, ensuring that travel expenditures are drastically cut down, ensuring that with the temporary ban that is being put in place from April 1 on all but unnecessary foreign travel, the government is expected to save over N5 billion per quarter.
“This is going to be one out of several initiatives the President is taking to ensure that we reduce waste in the public sector in such a way that we can actually steer these very needed recurrent resources into the hands of those who are doing important work on behalf of the Nigerian people,” he said.
He further added, “If we do not get a firm grip on the value of our currency and it continues to be a volatile, devaluing asset, then whatever we do with the national minimum wage is going to essentially become a moot point, nullity. And so we are focused on ensuring that yes, we arrive at a new minimum wage that states can afford, and that will deal with all of the needs of Nigerian families across the country.
“But we also want to ensure that what we peg it at is something that is sustainable over a number of years based on the long term, you know, stability that we want to bring to the Nigerian Naira with the interventions we’re presently making.”
He said that there is stability coming to naira, adding, “when the new minimum wage comes into effect it is going to be one that will be sustained over a long period of time by a stable Nigerian Naira based on the interventions being made under his leadership.”
Also speaking on the anti corruption fight, he disclosed that recent increase in salaries judicial officers in the country are part of efforts to ensure that judicial workers enjoy competitive pay rates.
” Their salaries and skills are very important for us and very strategic in the sense that we can dramatically reduce the impact that corruption has always played in the judiciary, which has an impact on not just the ability of Nigerians to get effective justice in the country, but also to ensure that businesses who we are now asking around the world to invest in Nigeria have a judicial system that they can trust with respect to any litigation that could arise from business practice in the country.
“The effects are huge and the President is taking a multi sectoral and comprehensive approach to ensuring that we bring prudence to government expenditure at a time when we are restructuring the economy of the Federation in such a way that sectors that are employing our people that are empowering our people are those sectors that will be able to more easily access lending both commercially and from public sector sources.
“So the momentum of the Nigerian Naira and it’s strengthening. Nigerians should expect that to continue.”
