TheCable

President Bola Tinubu has urged Nigerians to imbibe the culture of purchasing Nigerian products across all value chains to strengthen the naira.

Ajuri Ngelale, special adviser to the president on media and publicity, made this known to state house correspondents on Friday in Abuja.

According to Ngelale, Tinubu said it following the recent appreciation in the value of the naira, due to various steps taken to curb activities of illegal money speculators.

On February 24, the naira had exchanged as high as N1,900 to a dollar at the parallel market but closed at N1,470/$ on Friday.

At the official window, the naira fell to an all-time low of N1,534/$ on February 12, however, on Friday, the local currency closed at N1,431/$.

“There is an intention that we must have on this issue that we want a strong currency, we want the spending power of our people to go up,” he added.

“We want every naira and kobo we earn to be more valuable not just here but when we travel abroad, the way to achieve that is by doing just this.”

Speaking further about the currency appreciation, Ngelale said Nigerians at large have witnessed the seismic shifts that have taken place in the foreign exchange market in recent days and the strengthening of the Nigerian naira against the United States dollar.

“This is a time to deepen our efforts to dig in and to work harder, which is why  President Tinubu has approved a series of interventions to ensure that we see a mass strengthening of the Nigerian Naira against all other global currencies,” Ngelale said.

Also, Ngelale said the president demanded every Nigerian to join in the effort of turning the tide against unscrupulous citizens working to undermine the economy.

He said Nigerians should “blow the whistle on any activity that is drawing the economy to the brink, in order to save the country and cut the cost of governance”.

TINUBU APPROVES CONDITIONAL GRANT SCHEME 

Ngelale said Tinubu would ensure micro, small and medium-scale enterprises in the country have what they needed to get through the economic hardship.

The spokesperson said Tinubu has approved the presidential conditional grant scheme, in which over one million Nigerian businesses would be empowered.

“This is money they will not have to pay back up to N50,000 per nano enterprise,  with over one million nano enterprises being selected and granted these funds within each and every local government area of the federation,” Ngelale said.

“In addition to that, over N150 billion has been dispersed from the bank of Industry and made up of single digit interest rate loans of up to N2 million to small and medium scale enterprises across all local government areas of the federation.”

He said the construction and manufacturing sectors of the economy that employed more than 1,000 Nigerians would also be given a facility to encourage them and boost employment.

“The president has approved over N75 billion  to be dispersed to 75 large scale manufacturers across all states of the federation. These are going to be manufacturers who employ over 1,000 Nigerians in each of their facilities and industries,” Ngelale said.

“We are going to ensure that they have the support that they need at the large scale, so that Nigerian families who rely on these large scale businesses are protected.

“We want to see our large scale industries, not just refuse to fire people but to actively increase and expand their hiring at this difficult time.”

‘MINIMUM WAGE REVIEW IN APRIL’

Ngelale said the appreciation of the naira would also impact positively on the proposals of the minimum wage review coming up in April.

”What we do not want is a situation in which the minimum wage continues to be what it has always been in the history of our country, which is a moving goalpost,” he said.

“If we do not get a firm grip on the value of our currency and it continues to be a volatile, devaluing asset, then whatever we do with the national minimum wage is going to essentially become a moot point.

‘We are focused on ensuring that we arrive at a new minimum wage that states can afford, and that we’ll deal with all of the needs of Nigerian families across the country.

“We also want to ensure that what we peg it at is something that is sustainable over a number of years, based on the long-term, you know, stability that we want to bring to the Nigerian naira with  interventions we’re presently making.”

On January 30, the federal government inaugurated a 37-member tripartite committee on national minimum wage