Since President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office in 2015, he has been trying his best to put the nation’s economy on a sound footing. The first thing he did was the crusade against corruption. The second was the recovery of money looted from the treasury.
The third thing he did was to place restrictions on the use of dollar which people hailed, describing it as a way of reviving the lost glory of the naira.
Some people, probably out of faint knowledge, are attributing the economic woes which people are experiencing, particularly the soaring prices of essential commodities like rice, bread, milk, detergent, cooking oil, to the civilian administration. This, to my mind, is spurious and misleading.
The truth is that during the heydays of the military administration, especially in the 1980s, successive leaders propounded economic policies aimed at improving our economy, such as International Monetary fund (IMF) loans, which was widely criticised in certain circles; frequent change of the naira’s design and colour, which those who had the opportunity to obtain took advantage of abroad; restrictions on importation of certain goods, which marked the beginning of the naira’s dilemma.
To revive the economy, government can tap into other sources, such as intensifying efforts on agriculture, minerals resources like coal, iron-ore, bauxite, lignite, etc; improving rail and air transport and the waterways, to make things easier for the people and thereby boost our economy.
Another thing which can strengthen the naira is to reintroduce the use of coins which have for long been neglected by those in authority. Government can also look into the possibility of making electricity supply stable, as it is causing a great setback to the economy. The prices of essential goods are being hiked by traders who have only a faint knowledge of government’s economic policy.
Ola-Olaniyi Bamgbola,
Ibadan.