Posted on: 04:42 Sun, 21 Feb 2016



President Muhammadu Buhari has for
the umpteenth time reiterated that he
will not be devaluing the Naira.

He said Nigeria cannot compete
with developed countries which
produce to compete among
themselves and can afford to
devalue their local currencies.

According to a statement by his
Special Adviser on Media and
Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the
President spoke on Saturday while
contributing to a Presidential Panel
Roundtable on Investment and
Growth Opportunities at the
opening of the Africa 2016:
Business for Africa, Egypt and the
World at Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

Buhari was quoted as saying that
Nigeria could not afford to devalue
its currency because the country
imports everything, including
toothpicks.

He said, “Developed countries are
competing among themselves and
when they devalue they compete
better and manufacture and export
more.

“But we are not competing and
exporting but importing
everything including toothpicks.

So, why should we devalue our
currency? We want to be more
productive and self-sufficient in
food and other basic things such
as clothing.

“For our government, we like to
encourage local production and
efficiency. The President added
that those who have developed
taste for foreign luxury goods
should continue to pay for them
rather than pressure government
to devalue the naira.

He added that the priority of his
administration is to ensure
national food security before
export of food products.

He stressed that Nigeria being a
mono-economy dependent on oil,
and with a teeming unemployed
youth population, the way out of
the current slump in the global oil
market, is for the administration to
focus on agriculture and solid
minerals development.

“The land is there and we need
machinery inputs, fertiliser and
insecticides,” he said.

Buhari expressed optimism that
Nigeria would get out of its current
economic downturn.

He noted that another major
problem militating against
economic revival is the huge
resources deployed towards fighting
insurgency and international
terrorism.

He, however, commended the
support being received from the
international community in the
administration’s fight against
terrorism as well as cooperation in
tracing looted funds stashed away
in foreign countries.

Responding to a question on his
performance since he assumed
office, the President said that his
administration has been quite
focused on three fundamental
issues of securing the country,
reviving the economy and
stamping out corruption.

“The message on corruption has
been driven home vividly and
Nigerians are very acceptable to
the message,” he said.

He added that those accused of
stealing public funds are co-
operating by voluntarily providing
useful information while
investigations and prosecutions are
ongoing.

In his opening address at the
Forum, the Egyptian President,
Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, said Africa
needs to concentrate on
transforming into knowledge
societies using innovation and
research.

The Presidents of Gabon, Equatorial
Guinea, Sudan and the Prime
Minister of Ethiopia also
participated at the Roundtable.

In his opening message, the
President of the African
Development Bank, Akinwumi
Adesina, said that “Africa must
think big, act big and develop big.”

Before departing Egypt, Buhari and
his Egyptian host, had a bilateral
discussion on security, military
cooperation, agriculture and solid
minerals development