A social critic, Mr Ibrahim Mohammed has waded into the worsening exchange rate crisis in the country, advising the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to end any form of cash payment to government establishments.
DAILY POST reports that despite the current efforts of the government, Nigerians have seen the Naira crash further against the Dollar on a daily basis, exchanging for up to N1200/1$.
In an interview with DAILY POST on Thursday, Mohammed said he was concerned over the pains Nigerians were going through owing to the worsening state of the economy.
He said the CBN should go beyond the current policies in its search for a permanent solution to the forex crisis.
According to him, “In the past few days, we have seen the Naira value depreciate to such an embarrassing level.
“One will be forced to ask why such a free-fall of the Naira- is the Dollar now an official means of exchange in the country? The answer is No.
“However, I took out time recently to make some enquiries and a very worrisome discovery I made is that government officials, including top ranking military and paramilitary officers are the major customers of Bureau De Change operators.
“The reason is that the CBN is still supplying raw cash to some of the agencies, especially the security apparatus. So, some corrupt persons quickly rush to the BDC’s where they convert some of the cash to dollars for selfish motives.”
He urged President Bola Tinubu’s Government to direct the CBN to stop any form of cash payment to agencies.
“Whatever money they need should be sent to their designated account numbers. The excuse that money is paid cash to security men on the frontline of duty should not count here.
“The allowances should be paid into their account; they can always find a way of making withdrawal through POS operators.
“This is the major step to curb the unnecessary pressure on the Naira and save our economy. Mr President should, as a matter of urgency, take a bold step to end the corruption in the system,” he advised.
