Forex: Lagos Assembly urges Tinubu to reduce foreign trips, pilgrimages

The Lagos State House of Assembly, yesterday, called on the President Bola Tinubu-led federal government to reduce foreign trips for seminars and conferences by ministries and agencies as well as regulate religious pilgrimages as part of measures to halt the continued downward slide in the value of the naira against the US dollar.

While the dollar closed at N1,534.39 at the official market on Monday, according to the FMDQ data, it exchanged on Tuesday at N1,534 at the official market but stabilized at the unofficial parallel market, exchanging between N1,450 and N1500.

At plenary, the lawmakers advised the federal government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on some bold steps to take to shore up the value of the naira.

Part of the resolution by the House was that the government should come up with a mechanism to reduce foreign trips for seminars and conferences by ministries and agencies. They added that this should apply to states.

The Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, who presided over the sitting, lamented the disparity between the dollar and naira while commending the CBN for taking some measures with the hope that such actions would yield positive results.

Obasa, who further commended the National Assembly for inviting the CBN governor for discussion recently, said: “In my opinion, the CBN and government should embark on sensitisation and information dissemination to make people understand what the government is doing.

“The pressure on the naira is too much, but the CBN should make sure that national interest is supreme.” 

Obasa urged the government to regulate religious pilgrimages as they attract undue interest in the dollar and put pressure on the naira. According to him, this action could be sustained until the naira stabilises.

“To save the naira, the federal government and states could stop foreign conferences and seminars. If possible, we can bring the resource persons to Nigeria to deliver their lectures. We all need to look inward to support the government.

“Locally, some people in Nigeria doing business demand dollars instead of naira. Even at parties now, you see people spraying dollars instead of naira. We need a way out and to do this, we need the support of citizens. That’s the essence of sensitization,” he added.

Speaking earlier under ‘Matter of Urgent Public Importance’, Femi Saheed (Kosofe Constituency 2), said the current naira-dollar disparity is the direct consequence of the policies of the Godwin Emefiele-led CBN.

According to him, the naira will gain value if measures, including fixing the nation’s refineries, and strengthening the education and health sectors, are undertaken.