President Bola Tinubu has urged Nigerians to buy goods made in Nigeria to save foreign exchange and help strengthen the Naira.
The President’s plea to Nigerians is to deliberately patronise home-made goods and services with a view to sustaining the current positive showing of the Naira at the foreign exchange market.
He wants us to support our own products and services to keep our currency strong. He says “we still need to work hard to maintain this progress and asks everyone to report anyone harming our economy.”
Tinubu, speaking through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, during a briefing of State House correspondents, emphasized the government’s commitment to bolstering the value of the naira, particularly in anticipation of the implementation of the new minimum wage. He noted recent improvements in the foreign exchange market, with the naira gaining ground against other currencies.
Acknowledging this positive trend, Ngelale highlighted that it was a crucial time for continued efforts and diligence, rather than complacency. Tinubu approved various interventions aimed at further enhancing the strength of the Nigerian naira against global currencies, underscoring the administration’s dedication to economic stability and prosperity for Nigerians.
Tinubu emphasizes the importance of Nigerians actively supporting locally-made products and services to strengthen the economy, according to Ngelale. He urges citizens to intentionally choose Nigerian-made goods across various sectors to boost the value of the naira and increase spending power, both domestically and internationally.
Furthermore, Ngelale highlights Tinubu’s commitment to sustaining the positive momentum in currency strengthening efforts. He attributes the recent improvement in the Naira’s exchange rate to decisive actions against fraudulent activities in cryptocurrency trading platforms and the foreign exchange market.
He encourages citizens to report any fraudulent activities and emphasizes that combating these issues is a collective responsibility, not just a government initiative. Tinubu’s approach aims to foster economic growth and stability by empowering Nigerians to actively participate in supporting the local economy and safeguarding against financial misconduct.
“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 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.
“He is also ensuring that we bring a sustainable strength to the currency so that when we talk about a new minimum wage, because many of our people have asked, you know government officials about when the new minimum wage is coming in, those negotiations are ongoing.
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“But what we do not want is a situation in which the minimum wage continues to be what it has always been in the history of our country, which is a moving goalpost. He warned that the proposed minimum wage would result in nothing for workers “if we do not get a firm grip on the value of our currency and it continues to be a volatile, devaluing asset.”
He added: “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 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.”
Ngelale also said the federal government hoped to save N5 billion quarterly through the imposition of a three-month ban on all foreign trips funded by public money for ministers, heads of government agencies, and other officials. The Nigerian government has announced a temporary ban on unnecessary international travel by cabinet members and heads of ministries, departments, and agencies, effective from April 1, 2024. This move aims to curb rising expenses on foreign trips and ensure that officials focus on their core responsibilities for efficient service delivery.
Ngelale the President’s spokesman, said the ban is part of efforts to alleviate financial burdens on families and promote accountability in public spending. By implementing this measure, the government anticipates saving over N5 billion per quarter, which can be redirected to more essential areas. This decision is just one of several initiatives planned by the President to streamline public sector expenditure and allocate resources to priority projects that benefit the Nigerian people.
“For example, Nigerians are well aware that judicial officers in the country are going to finally have internationally competitive pay rates, salary skills, which is very important for us, 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.”
Ngelale similarly dwelt on other government efforts to reshape the economy, including the Presidential conditional grant scheme under which over one million Nigerian businesses will be financially empowered with up to N50000 per nano enterprise, which they will not have to pay back.
Beneficiaries are spread across the 774 local government areas of the country. Besides over N150 billion is being disbursed from the Bank of Industry and Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency while single-digit interest rate loans of up to N2 million are also coming the way of thousands of small and medium scale enterprises across the federation.
Ngelale added that President Tinubu has prioritised intervention of the sum of N75b to 75 industries and manufacturing companies with staff strength of over 1,000 workers to ensure necessary support is given to such firms, thereby expanding their hiring strength.
“We want to ensure that those industries and sectors that are massively employing our people are those industries that are prioritised concerning 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 1,000 Nigerians in each of their facilities and industries. We are going to ensure that they have the support that they need on 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 actively increase and expand their hiring at this difficult time.”
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