President
Muhammadu Buhari has reiterated that his position not to approve
further devaluation of the Naira, saying that Nigeria, which is not an
exporting nation, would be worst hit if the Naira was devalued.
President
Buhari with President of Sudan, H.E. Omar Al-Bashir and Prime Minister
of Ethiopia, H.E. Hailemariam Desalegn at the Opening Panel-
Presidential Roundtable of Business for Africa, Egypt and the World in
Sharm El-Sheikh Egypt on 20th Feb 2016
While contributing to a Presidential Panel Roundtable on Investment
and Growth Opportunities at the opening session of the Africa 2016:
Business for Africa, Egypt and the World at Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt,
President Muhammadu Buhari has again ruled out the possibility of his
government devaluing the naira.
The president said on Saturday that the priority of his
administration was to ensure national food security before export of
food products, adding that Nigeria being a mono-economy dependent on
oil, and with a teeming unemployed youth population, the way out of the
current slump in the global oil market, is for the administration to
focus on agriculture and solid minerals development.
"The land is there and we need machinery inputs, fertilizer and insecticides," he said.
Reiterating his opposition to the devaluation of the naira,
President Buhari said Nigeria cannot compete with developed countries
which produce to compete among themselves, and can afford to devalue
their local currencies.
"Developed countries are competing among themselves and when
they devalue they compete better and manufacture and export more. But we
are not competing and exporting but importing everything including
toothpicks. So, why should we devalue our currency?" the president asked.
"We want to be more productive and self-sufficient in food and
other basic things such as clothing. For our government, we like to
encourage local production and efficiency."
He added that those who have developed taste for foreign luxury
goods should continue to pay for them rather pressure government to
devalue the naira.
President Buhari, who expressed optimism that Nigeria would get out
of its current economic downturn, noted that another major problem
militating against economic revival is the huge resources deployed
towards fighting insurgency and international terrorism.
He, however, commended the support being received from the
international community in the administration’s fight against terrorism
as well as cooperation in tracing looted funds stashed away in foreign
countries.
Responding to a question on his performance since he assumed
office, the president said that his administration had been quite
focused on three fundamental issues of securing the country, reviving
the economy and stamping out corruption.
“The message on corruption has been driven home vividly and Nigerians are very acceptable to the message,”
he said, adding that those accused of stealing public funds are
cooperating by voluntarily providing useful information while
investigations and prosecutions are ongoing.
Before departing Egypt, President Buhari and his Egyptian host, had
a bilateral discussion on security, military cooperation, agriculture
and solid minerals development.
