Osinbajo, Sani fault call for further devaluation of naira

VICE President Yemi Osinbajo has said devaluation of the Naira was not an appropriate option in the current economic realities in the country.


It offers no solutions as far as President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is concerned, Osinbajo said yesterday.

He spoke as a civil rights activist, Senator Shehu Sani, cautioned against accepting the recent suggestion by the Emir of Kano and former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, that the Federal Government should further devalue the naira.

resident Buhari had earlier expressed his view that a further devaluation of the Nigerian currency is not healthy for the Nigerian economy. And speaking earlier today when he received ambassadors from Italy and Canada, among other callers in his office, Osinbajo said: “I don’t agree on devaluation and it is not that I am doctrinaire about it. In the first place, it is not a solution – we are not exporting significantly. And the way things are, devaluation will not help the local economy. What we need to do is to start spending more on the economy and then things will ease up a bit.”

He observed that the issues around the economy are no exact sciences, stressing that what is important is to be reasonably flexible in dealing with them.

Osinbajo outlined Federal Government’s plans to set-up a $25billion Infrastructural Fund which would be sourced from local and international sources, including Nigeria’s Sovereign Wealth Fund and the pension funds.

NAN