NLC to Buhari: Stop any further devaluation of naira

By Ezugwu Obinna

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has advised President Muhammadu Buhari against consenting to any further moves to devaluate the Naira which it noted was already in a free fall of 18 percent against the US dollar.

The Secretary General of Textile Workers Union and one of the deputy national presidents of the congress, Comrade Issa Aremu gave the advice in a press release made available to Hallmark. He also used the opportunity to warn the president against carrying out the speculated removal of fuel subsidy as the move, according to him, would bring hardship on Nigerians.

“The administration must resist the new emergency discordant voices pushing for twin-evil policies of the so called subsidy removal and further devaluation of the Naira. The two amounts to policy dictatorship and policy ambush that had nothing to do with the ruling party’s electoral promises which the masses overwhelmingly voted for,” Aremu said.

“NLC particularly rejects the call by the Managing Director of and Chief Executive Officer of First Bank Nigeria Limited, Mr. Bisi Onasanya for further devaluation of the Naira already in a free-fall of 18 percent against the dollar in the past year.”

“Market operators like Onasanya should not usurp the legitimate function of the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) as the regulator through unhelpful policy dictatorship. We support the recently announced bold measures of the CBN governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele in managing the scarce foreign through foreign exchange restrictions on some frivolous imports.

Aremu emphasized that what Nigerians needed was good governance and not the removal of fuel subsidy, noting that Nigerians are looking forward to the fixing of the country’s refineries. “What Nigerians look forward to an urgent fixing of the existing refineries, passage of PIB, reorganization and repositioning of the NNPC, reinvention of the downstream infrastructure of fuel production and distribution; an end to crude oil theft and a mass of decent jobs, not outworn outcry of so called fuel subsidy.”

He further advised the president against pandering to the vested interests of few powerful individuals in the country which it said would amount to undermining his electoral promises to the people of the country.