By: Ade Philips
Akinrinlola Olumide, the Publisher of a popular news medium in Nigeria, has rated low, the economic reforms being carried out by President Bola Tinubu.
He specifically noted that no one should clap for the President over the crash of dollars.
Akinrinlola who is also the Chief Editor of Starnews NG, in a statement on Saturday, asserted that CBN only addressed the scarcity of dollars by pushing out those foreign currencies with them for sale to BDC operators at a cheaper rate.
The publisher who frowned at the reported success recorded by the CBN on the revamp of the economy, asked Nigerians to eschew praise singing and seeks holistic reforms of the poor economy.
While proffering solutions to the lingering economic instability, Akinrinlola opined that banks should be preferentially treated as the major buyers and not the BDC operators.
The statement partly read, “Don’t be surprised if the currency is scarce again, as some powerful individuals are buying it now to store/hoard for business purposes.
“The method introduced by CBN won’t last longer. Why it is working partially, it is not a permanent solution because they won’t be able to sustain it eventually.
“We are not producing anything in Nigeria. Our economy is still attractive to foreign capital. No local production. We are not doing any export. Our local market still depended on the foreign currency for certain transactions. The hyperinflation in the system which aggravated the economic crisis has not yet been addressed.
“There is nothing to rejoice about in the ongoing success rate recorded in crashing the dollar. It is a temporary relief if the right thing is not done. That somebody didn’t do the right thing in the past does not mean Tinubu government should not do it right now.
“Exchange rate was not this bad in the days of the PDP. It is attributed to many reasons: The market was not floated like BAT did now. There was a cap sale of forex. And the currency was not too scarce in the banks. The economy did not depend fully on the use of dollars for transactions. Multinational were mandated to include naira as option of payment. Nigeria’s economy was not too attractive to foreign capital.
“As I speak now, naira card is no longer allowed to do foreign transaction. You need a US or a foreign card to carry out some transactions online, which invariably can be done with a naira card in the days of the PDP. Facebook advert/promotion and others no longer allow naira cards for their online transactions unlike before.
“We have numerous things I cannot list here that caused the high demands for dollars, which has not yet been addressed by the current administration. In a lay man language, why this policy is partially good, the government should also discourage the high demand for dollars. Otherwise, the problem will reoccur again.
“Yes, I admit that Tinubu did not orchestrate the issues but he came and added to it. He was rushing to formulate the forex policies without considering some factors and by so doing, he compounded the problem.
“The dollar cabals were created by Buhari’s regime and this led to the build up of the problem inherited by Tinubu. But Tinubu didn’t also do well by compounding the issue with his policy which took the exchange rate (dollar, euro, and pound) to as high as 2,200 against the naira in the black market.
“And this is why no one should clap for him yet. Because he is not yet done addressing the problem he created, let alone addressing those problems he inherited from Buhari, his predecessor and friend.
“I am not an economist, but I wrote a long time ago that the major issue with our exchange rate was the scarcity of dollars and overdependent on it for transactions. Especially some transactions which could be done with the local currency.
“My fear now is that they are presently addressing the scarcity of dollars by making it available to bureau the change operators at a cheaper rate. It may be scarce again cos this method is not reliable in the long run.
“I advise that banks should be preferentially treated as the major buyers and not the BDC operators which see it as another money ritual for them. I suggest other root causes mentioned above should be addressed by the government.
“Enough of praise singing”, he yelled.
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