BY ROSEMARY NWAEBUNI
THE member representing Delta North Senatorial District at the Red Chamber of the National Assembly, Senator Prince Ned Nwoko has kicked against the dollarization of Nigeria’s economy, saying that it was borne out of colonial mentality.
Nwoko, who played host to some journalists in the State at his country home in Idumuje Ugboko said that every country’s currency was tied to her sovereignty, but noted that Nigeria’s sovereignty was limited by her colonial mentality believing that other countries’ currencies were better than hers.
While revealing that one of his bills at the Upper Chamber was aimed to halt the use of foreign currencies for business transactions in Nigeria, Senator Nwoko opined that foreigners transacting business in Nigeria with their foreign currencies was the cause of continuous fall of the naira. He explained that the bill was to ensure that every transaction on Nigeria’s soil must be done with the naira.
He explained that if naira was taken to the United Kingdom in a trailer load, it will only end up in the dump site because it is not valued anywhere, but that once it is made mandatory that every business transaction in Nigeria is done in naira, other countries of the world will demand for naira. “They will buy it to be able to do business in Nigeria. Once this happens, the demand for naira will increase and the value will appreciate”, he stressed.
Nwoko emphasised that overtime, Nigeria has refused to promote our currency by making it globally acceptable. He also kicked against Nigeria’s operation of ‘Foreign Reserve Account’, noting that such venture was used to make the nation’s wealth redundant, benefiting the countries where the account is domiciled as they use it to transact businesses and boost their economy”, he said.
He maintained that United States of America, Britain, France, etc., have no such account in any part of the world. “We don’t have need for any Foreign Reserve Account. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) can handle our reserve accounts”, Nwoko insisted.
He affirmed that his bill on halting the dollarization of our economy when passed into law will help to strengthen the naira, adding that the buying and selling of hard currency has only benefited less than half percentage of Nigeria’s population.
