Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said that he is not calling for the devaluation of the naira contrary to some reports that trailed his speech at the opening session of the mid-term ministerial performance review retreat at the presidential villa, Abuja on Monday.
Osinbajo in a statement issued by his spokesman, Laolu Akande, on Tuesday said he rather advocates a forex policy to curb corruption.
While noting that he has been opposed to the devaluation of the currency, the Vice President said those who have access to the dollars at N410 turn round to sell it were benefiting from the current exchange rate.
“Prof. Osinbajo is not calling for the devaluation of the Naira. He has at all times argued against a willy-nilly devaluation of the Naira,” the statement read.
“For context, the Vice President’s point was that currently, the Naira exchange rate benefits only those who are able to obtain the dollar at N410, some of who simply turn round and sell to the parallel market at N570.
“It is stopping this huge arbitrage of over N160 per dollar that the Vice President was talking about. Such a massive difference discourages doing proper business, when selling the dollar can bring in 40% profit!”
He also revealed the major issues confronting the Nigerian economy, stressing that how to improve the supply of foreign exchange is the major challenge facing the country’s economy.
Osinbajo explained that allowing the window of import and export would help improve the value of the naira.
“The real issue confronting the economy on this matter is how to improve the supply of foreign exchange, but this will not happen if we do not allow mechanisms like the Importers and Exporters window to work. If we allow this market mechanism to work as intended, we will find that the Naira will appreciate against the dollar as we restore confidence in the system,” he added.
