Production, patronage of locally made goods way out of economic hardship– Obono Obla
A former presidential adviser, Okoi Obono-Obla, has urged the ruling All Progressives Party to embark promoting the manufacturing and patronizing of made-in-Nigeria goods.
He also harped on the need for the country to export these goods to other countries to earn foreign exchange.
He was reacting to prevalent hyperinflation and hardship in the country, blaming undue advantage of the dollar over naira.
He warned that the Federal Government cannot peg the exchange rate of the naira to international currency, making the dollar to become over dominant.
“We cannot continue to have a dollarised economy when the dollar is not our national currency. Our national currency is the naira, which should be the means of exchange, buying and selling but we descended to the ridiculous level of making the dollar superior to our national currency in our disposition to embracing everything foreign no matter how worthless it is.
“We only export crude oil in commercial quantities as the only means of earning foreign exchange. The international oil market is very sensitive, it is volatile and easily vulnerable and quickly reacts to the vagaries of international geopolitics and interest to market forces so depending on such commodity as the only means of earning foreign exchange for a country of 230 million people is dangerous and indeed injurious to our national interest.
“We must strengthen the naira through conscious and deliberate efforts of partnership and collaboration between the government and the people of Nigeria.”
