President
Muhammadu Buhari declared late Wednesday in Nairobi, Kenya, that he was yet to
be convinced that Nigeria and its people will derive any tangible benefit from
an official devaluation of the Naira.
Speaking
at an interactive meeting with Nigerians living in Kenya, President Buhari
maintained that while export-driven economies could benefit from devaluation of
their currencies, devaluation will only result in further inflation and
hardship for the poor and middle classes in Nigeria’s import-dependent economy.
The
president added that he had no intention of bringing further hardship on the
country’s poor who, he said, have suffered enough already.
Likening
devaluing the Naira to having it “killed”, President Buhari said that
proponents of devaluation will have to work much harder to convince him that
ordinary Nigerians will gain anything from it.
The
president also rejected suggestions that the Central Bank of Nigeria should
resume the sale of foreign exchange to Bureaux de Change (BDCs), saying that
the Bureau de Change business had become a scam and a drain on the economy.
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