The experts noted that Nigerians must seek an end to dollarising the economy, saying Nigeria spends about $40billion yearly importing foods, paying school fees, health care treatment among others abroad.
Financial experts have explained that the way to sustain current foreign exchange efforts in the Nigerian economy is for the citizens and the President Bola Tinubu-led government to prioritise and use made-in-Nigeria goods as against foreign made goods.
The experts noted that Nigerians must seek an end to dollarising the economy, saying Nigeria spends about $40billion yearly importing foods, paying school fees, health care treatment among others abroad.
It could be recalled that the naira had recently sustained gains against the dollars in the last few days both in the official and parallel markets – even though the rebound is still not near the desirable outcomes.
Speaking to newsmen on the forex crisis, a Chartered accountant and a financial and risk expert, Olabode Afolayan, disclosed that to sustain the momentum, the citizens must cut their appetite for foreign made goods and also de-dollarise the economy.
According to him, importation is putting so much pressure on the naira saying, there should be a change of mindset by Nigerians.
"We need to have a change of mindset and be more patriotic. We need to buy more of home-made items than importation. Though the question of why people are not buying Nigerian made things is due to quality, we need to do what the Chinese did by going local.
"We need to start producing our own televisions, our engineering students in the universities should be able to get a build local technology for this, we need to start manufacturing en mass," he advised.
Afolayan further stated that the government should encourage exports, saying the country exports must be more than importation.
He also urged the government to clamp down on Nigerians hoarding the dollars as their role seemed to be more powerful than what the government is doing to maintain momentum against the dollar.
"We need not to sabotage the effort of the government and the government should talk to those hoarding the dollar because they are the “big boys” of Nigeria and not ordinary Nigerians.
“When they hoard, government should clamp down on them because government is doing everything to make naira appreciate by clearing the forex backlogs and clearing trapped funds of foreign airlines. I learnt the government cleared some of this outstanding hence the naira appreciated.
“Also, government should look inward, they should ensure export is more than import and with that, the naira will sustain its momentum against the dollar,” Afolayan stated.
However, speaking on strategies that can be used for the naira to regain strength, the chief consultant of B. Adedipe As¬sociates Limited (BAA Consult), Dr. Biodun Adedipe, said the CBN should stop government agencies from charging local operators and entities in US dollars.
According to him, the sale of crude oil to local refineries should also be made in Naira rather than in US dollars.
Adedipe said, “CBN should deal transparently with participating banks at the I&E Window. De-dol¬larise the economy by declaring as illegal any local transactions in US dollars (sale of assets, rent/leases, and other services, including school fees and medical bills) and ensure that government agencies stop charging local operators and enti¬ties in US dollars (quite common in the maritime sector).
“Other suggestions include the need to ensure that the sale of crude oil to local refineries should be made in Naira rather than the dollar.”
“President Bola Tinubu should have a direct engagement with bank CEOs to generate ideas and use mor¬al suasion to enlist their support for the market reforms. Face the reality that unified exchange rates (not any different than floating the Naira) is a poor policy choice for a structural¬ly defective and weak economy like ours,” he added.
Also speaking, a Capital Market Executive, Samuel Showunmi, said artificial pricing largely due to hoarding and speculating of the FX is currently responsible for the huge disparity between the naira and the dollar.
Showunmi who is a Capital Market Executive at Iron Global Markets Limited (a subsidiary of) Iron Capital an Africa, said for more Foreign Exchange inflow, the country must meet its OPEC quota of oil production.
"We need to know if we are producing the quota that is expected of us by OPEC and the reason we are not meeting the quota is not far-fetched, it's because of vandalism, oil theft and all of that. The government is doing a lot to mitigate that but they need to step up their game. Nigerians no longer interested in too much rhetorics, this is the time for action," he stated.