…. Urge government to resolve crash interest rate policy
……. Federal government should prohibit the use of foreign currencies in Nigeria
By Fatima Saka
Senator Chinedu Munir Nwoko has said that it will take a strong will for Tinubu to restore Nigeria currency, saying that the problem confronting Nigerians is economic problems,
He added that these issues are very simple, but Nigerians try to make everything very complicated, calling on the president to restore Nigeria’s currency.
The senator representing Delta North Senatorial District added that If truly there is sincerity in the government, they will know that there are problems in Nigeria, and real economic problems resulting in unbearable hardships for the people.
Senator Nwoko made this known to the journalists on Wednesday in Abuja, lashing his committee for not capturing his inputs while the committee on finance, banking, agriculture and national planning met with the ministers and the CBN governor before culminating the reports during plenary session on Tuesday.
He stressed that there is no need for preparing over a cracked wall pretending as if some monetary policies, fiscal policies will turn things around in Nigeria.
The senator representing Delta North Senatorial District lamented that In Nigeria, if prices of commodities goes up, it doesn’t come down again, adding that especially in connection with interest rates and exchange rates.”And these are the bedrock of any economy.”
He expressed that Nigeria doesn’t have a credit economy. “A credit economy is an economy where people are able to borrow with minimum conditions. But for you to borrow, you must have interest rates that are manageable.
“Most countries in the world have interest rates between 3% and 6%. In Nigeria, it’s between 12% and 30%. And then they ask for an arm and a leg.”
“They ask for collateral, properties. So how are you going to even get the property in the first place?
“If you’re going to start borrowing, you start by borrowing to buy or build a house, you start by borrowing to buy or build a house.
“I’m sure most of you here are probably not owners of your homes. And most of you here are above 30, perhaps 35, maybe 40. So at what point are you going to start borrowing to build a house?
You’re going to start borrowing to build a home for yourself and your family. It is not easy to pay rent two years in advance or one year in advance.
“So there are problems, real problems, that can be resolved through simple policies.
So for me, the first policy is the crash interest rate policy. And this will just take a government to implement it in Nigeria as it applies all over the world.”
Speaking on interest rates, Senator Nwoko stressed that no government entities across the world will leave interest rates to be determined by banks.
He added that Banks want to make profit, “they’re not thinking about consumers, that’s not their concern so for you to begin to borrow, government must come out emphatically on this and say interest rates from first of March, for example will no longer be more than 4, 5 percent and everybody will adjust,the banks will also adjust.
So instead of a bank making a profit of about 500 billion every year, they’ll probably make a profit of about 100 billion. It’s still good.
So this is the number one, that control of interest rates by the government.
“Then number two, and much more importantly, is the issue of exchange rates. Exchange rates have become such a hydro-headed issue because of our reliance on foreign currencies. So much so that every petty trader in the village, who is selling garri or palm oil, is talking about exchange rates.
Exchange rates, ordinarily, should be something that concerns foreign transactions with dollars. But everybody now understands that the Naira has no value, So what do we do?
The senator explained how to deal with the issue of over-dependence on dollars, saying that Nigeria should start seeking economic independence.
He further encouraged the president to close all foreign reserves, adding that through this the youths can be founded.
The PDP Senator exclaimed that all foreigners working in Nigeria, should not be allowed to be paid in dollars. “Let me just take you back a bit.
“Because you might not understand how this all began. We all got our independence.
We got our political independence.But tied us economically to their own manipulations.
“When I say they own, I’m talking about the Western societies. Britain, America , France and the western world what they did to us was not only done to Nigeria but to all the colonized countries they compelled our people.”
