Mr. Kenneth Okonkwo, spokesman for the Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign council, has said the former vice-president will not retain the Bola Tinubu administration’s naira floating exchange rate policy if elected president.
While speaking on Monday during an appearance on Democracy Today, an AIT programme, Okonkwo criticised the government’s decision to allow the naira to be largely determined by market forces.
The politician claimed that it is irresponsible for a government to leave its currency “to the vagaries of the market”.
“No country in the whole world leaves their currency undefended,” Okonkwo said.
He said the value of a country’s currency is fundamental to its economy, likening the decision to leave the naira to market forces to entrusting citizens’ security to criminals or private security agencies.
“What did you call macroeconomic policy? The whole idea of macroeconomic policy is to defend your currency, because once your currency becomes like dust, nobody is going to desire it,” he said.
“Have you forgotten when the naira was climbing almost to N2,000 per dollar? This government remembered to start defending the naira. Why wait for it to crumble?
“What makes your naira strong? When your export is more than your import, your currency starts gaining power.”
The campaign spokesperson accused the Tinubu administration of encouraging imports, citing a N34 billion import waiver.
However, when reminded that the latest National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed exports exceeded imports, Okonkwo dismissed the development as insufficient progress.
“Not that you made any appreciable increase. It cannot be progress because life is still unaffordable,” he said.
