'Devalue Naira now, forex policy short-changing Nigerians - Fayose tells Buhari



Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has called for the devaluation of the nation’s currency, the Naira, saying, “With the gap between the official rate of N199 and open market rate of over N400 to one dollar, Naira has already been devalued.

Therefore, President Muhammadu Buhari must stop deceiving himself and short-changing Nigerians, especially States and Local Councils in the country with his Forex Policy.”



 Governor Fayose, who said there was no time in the history of Nigeria that the gap between dollar official rate and open market rate was more than N200, pointed out that it made no economic sense for the Federal Government to be calculating the country’s revenue on the basis of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) official rate of N199 to a dollar while States and Local Councils that are sharing the revenue with the Federal Government run their businesses at the open market rate of over N400 to one dollar, thereby causing business to be folding up by the day and prices of goods skyrocketing everyday.

Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media to the governor, Lere Olayinka, in a statement issued in Ado-Ekiti on Sunday, quoted the governor as saying that apart from breeding corruption through round tripping or foreign exchange arbitrage, Nigerians are also being duped and middle class Nigerians, the main people that grows the country’s economy are being decimated.

The governor said President Buhari was applying his 1984 failed economic policy in which prices of goods were fixed not minding the cost of supply, such that essential commodities like milk and sugar became scarce and Nigerians were made to line up under the sun to buy rationed commodities.

He urged the President to pay more attention to the ailing economy of the country instead of junketing around the world, wasting $1 million per foreign trip, saying; “President Buhari has travelled to 24 countries in eight months, and will be spending 16 out of the 29 days in February outside the country, with over $500,000 being spent on estacode while the Presidential Air Fleet, which includes fueling of the planes and allowances for crew members is said to be in the range of $500,000.

 “The President’s entourage obviously collect their travel allowances in dollars on official rate of N199 and come back to Nigeria to change it at the open market rate of N400. That must be the reason they encourage the President to be junketing abroad when life is becoming unbearable for Nigerians.” The governor said; “The situation is such that Nigeria gets say $2 billion revenue in a month, calculates the $2 billion revenue on the basis of the official CBN rate of N199 and share the revenue among the three tiers of government.

“In elementary economics, the implication is that when revenue is calculated based on N199 to one dollar and the federal government will be declaring say revenue of N400 billion to be shared by the three tiers of government, the value of revenue that should have been shared will be over N800 billion at the open market rate of N400 to one dollar.

“Meanwhile, the three tiers of government pay salaries to workers on the basis of N199 per dollar while the workers pay for goods and services which prices are determined by the open market rate of N400 to one dollar.

 “Also, Nigeria is now faced with a situation whereby funds are obtained from the official forex market (at lower rates) and diverted to other markets and sold at a higher rate by forex dealing banks and users, who make billions of naira profit just for doing almost nothing. “Therefore, the reality that we must all accept is that we must allow the forces of demand and supply to determine the value of our currency, not administrative fiat.

Most importantly, the government does not have the reserves to keep the naira-dollar rate at its official level. “The Naira must therefore be devalued. Anything other than this will mean that we are deceiving ourselves with forced foreign exchange rates and it is my position that this regime of deceit must stop.”
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  1. Thank you Governor Fayose for finally revealing to Nigerians the part PDP and GEJ would have taken us after plundering the Nation just for sake of your individual inordinate personal ambitions.

    It's rather sad and so unfortunate that it's only in a Country like Nigeria that people can express public madness and moral disorder so openly.

    Instead of people like Governor Fayose to bury their head in shame and keep quite for us not to vent our anger on their outrageous plundering as now being widely publicly revealed and thus admitted, they erroneously think that their Bravado Style is what will work.

    This then I thus declared. May God Almighty judge everyone of you and your entire lineage and everyone that has agreed to cast their lots with you sons of Belial in that mighty name of Jesus.

    Is it not enough that we are now facing the consequence of your outlandish plundering of the Nation's Common Wealth whereby the erstwhile available FOREX now has to be prioritized for the essential needs that will indeed sustain the Nation's Economy.

    May God make all your lineage never to know old age and many they never know peace throughout their daily lives. All the wealth that you guys have illegally acquire shall be used to nurse variety of sickness and another man shall inherit you and all that you guys have amassed. What an insult and impetuous. What arrant nonsense.

    May The Lord wipe out all your lineage and wicked bunch of sons of Belial.

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    1. Your write indicates that you are well learned but your resort to curses prove that you are indeed short sighted to economic realities.

      I will not join words with you but rather engage you intellectually, which u have failed to address in Fayose comment but rather you respond in an unbecoming attitude without countering Fayose argument.

      I argue that Fayose is right and the Naira should be devalued regardless of whom is to blame, be it PDP or APC.

      Firstly, the refusal to devalue the Naira has shut the industrial sector and increased corporate corruption. For example, As a business man, I approach CBN to give dollars, I want to open a factory and employ people. I get the USD at official rate, it will profit me more to sell to Blackmarket and make an instant 100% profit, rather than undergo the stress of manufacturing and thus, employment is loss.

      Secondly, as a business man, if CBN gives me dollars at official rate to procure goods to be sold, I will buy my goods and sell it in line with the parallel market rate, making enormous profit at the expense of the consumer.

      So b4 u waste prayers of wiping out lineages, think again from an intellectual perspective or else, your prayers will return to sender.

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    2. May God answer this prayer for all Nigerians that are guilty of all u have said here, whether Fayose, Buhari, any other Nigerian including u in Jesus name. Amen

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    3. I wonder what business the fellow wants CBN to finance with our scarce FOREX.

      As indicated by the comments with curses (to which I say a resounding amen and amen), CBN has already identified key businesses that will be supported by the scarce FOREX. If yours is not the consumer goods category then engage CBN through your collective association period!

      I think it common sense not to cast lot with people like Fayose who has to moral ground to make any comment on the situation which people like him actually led Nigeria into.

      The key question is, if Fayose is so patriotic, why did he use scarce FOREX to purse election. Why did Fayose not insist on collecting only Naira or even caution GEJ on the resultant effect of flooding the Country with scarce dollars.

      All the Dollars we made when Oil was more than USD90 per barrel has been squandered by Fayose, GEJ and PDP.

      Now Oil is below USD35, can anybody please do the math.

      If Fayose, GEJ and PDP had not squandered the a Dollars we made when Oil price was high, we will not have money to depend on now. Common sense, that is what they call saving for Rainy Day.

      Because Fayose et al has already stacked up scarce Dollars somewhere so they now want an official platform where they can easily change at exorbitant rate and laugh aloud at the stupidity and gullibility of Nigerians? Haba, God forbid!!!

      I have no choice but to agree with the curses. They must work. In fact God must arise immediately and begin to judge.

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  2. It is quite unfortunate that Giv. Fayose is only looking at the devaluation issue from one angle, I.e. consumption. There are more reasons like productive economic base, export- oriented economy, among others that any reasonable government will allow its currency to be devalued. For instance in August, 2015 China devalued its currency by 1.9 percent to stimulate, cheapen its exports and increase foreign earnings from export. That is the kind of actions a responsible government should take. I can say authoritatively, no serious country in the world allows the value its currency to be totally left at the mercy of market forces. Devaluing naira at this period will only encourage 1. Those with stolen dollar funds to make more money at the expense of the market, 2. Cost of essential imports like machinery, etc that will stimulate the productive/ real sector of our economy become more expensive. Our leaders should please at this time put aside politics and let us get down to serious business of governance .

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  3. I wonder how the curses shall not begin to immediately take effect on these sons of Belial.

    Imagine, in a Country where the leadership were so irresponsible to the extent that they were using SCARCE FOREX TO PURSUE in INTERNAL/LOCALIZED POLITICAL ASPIRATION. And someone is saying there may be back to sender, which side? What I see here is curses sticking like Super Glue to every son of Belial.

    The key question we should be asking Fayose is what did He expect when He was using USD37 Million to Rig his own election. Why did Fayose not ask GEJ for only Naira then.

    PDP plundered Nigeria period!!!!

    What we are now facing is the Consequence of highly and unimaginable level of irresponsibility in the leadership as now be revealed to all Nigerians.

    I totally agree that it's now time for God to start recompensing tribulations for all those responsible for our FOREX scarcity.

    Dollar is not the local currency of Nigeria. Naira is not a legal tender outside the shores of Nigeria, why then did Fayose, GEJ and PDP used our scarce FOREX to pursue their person agenda.

    By this, I must agree with the first comment and say a loud amen to the curses thus pronounced.

    I will rather not cast my lot with people like Fayose on the altar of unreasonable and illogical thinking.

    Those that support Fayose et al, well na you sabi oooo.

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