Former President of the Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA) and human rights activist, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, has
called on the federal government to revalue the naira and encourage
massive public spending.
He argued that revaluing the naira would
make the nation’s currency stronger, adding that the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) has no business trying to shore up the currency with the
dollar.
Agbakoba said: “I think the argument
should not be devaluation, but it should be revaluing the naira which
actually needs to be revalued”.
The former NBA president, who disclosed
this at a media briefing in Lagos, said the creation of an official
forex window by the CBN was a very big error. He expressed displeasure
over President Muhammadu Buhari’s statement that if Nigerians want to
send their children abroad for schooling, they have to provide the means
because the government is not ready to support such course.
He added: “We can all play in the forex
market officially. The problem is that we have only less than $32
billion in reserves. So there is so much pressure and it is falling. The
CBN Governor is worried. “The other thing is that when there is a
recession, you will have to pump money into the economy. You need to
have a massive public spending.
“Government needs massive borrowing. The
presidents economy advisers should know how to deploy the funds, if we
should have massive public borrowing because our debt ratio is very
good, then we will have enough money to deal with our public
construction programme.
“I think the CBN needs to be broken up,
the proper function of the CBN is monetary policy management (the
exchange, interest and lending rates). For a country in dire need of
spending I think our lending should not be in double-digits.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment