Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof Kingsley Moghalu, said that for Nigerian naira to regain its strength, the nation needs to transition into an export-driven economy.
Moghalu made this known on Monday during the 29th edition of the annual Nigerian Economic Summit held in Abuja, which serves as a platform for high-level discussions on the country’s economy.
This year’s edition was tagged ‘Pathways to Sustainable Economic and Transformation and Inclusion’.
While reacting to a question on how to fix the free fall of Nigeria’s local currency, Moghalu said the approach to solving the naira’s problem should be a long-term one.
“The way to fix the naira has problems is a combination of things. Some of them are short-term, but let me start with the long-term because we’ve been trying to fix the problem of the naira for a long, long time. It’s just been getting worse.
“The only way you can fix the naira is that the Nigerian economy needs to become a productive export-driven economy,” Moghalu affirmed.
The political economist, however, expressed his concern that the country has not devised a robust plan to make the naira strong.
“I can’t say this enough and I’m not the only one who’s saying it. But up till today, we have not seen a comprehensive plan with targets to achieve this,” he said.
“And even when plans are made, they are not always as informed as they should be. But I don’t know if you heard the President today because I heard him talking about clearing the backlog and doing all of this.
“You see. I mean, it’s important to clear those battles because one of the problems and a major problem that is affecting the naira is confidence.”
Kanyi Daily recalls that presidential aspirant of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Kingsley Moghalu had lambasted the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, over his presidential ambition.
