Senior Special Assistant to The President on Media, Mallam Musa Garba Shehu was on “Politics Today” a programme on Channels TV where he took questions on the state of Nigeria. Musa was asked about the protest against the CBN’s dollar policy and had this to say
Unfortunately, I am not an expert in these matters but to my layman’s understanding, we have a Dollar crisis. Dollar inflow into Nigeria is short. Whatever that is short in terms of supply creates demand in high proportions. It would have been worse if the government has not taken quite a number of measures including the restriction of our scares foreign exchanges to sectors that are very critical, that create jobs, that generate income to the country.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN had already dismissed those protests. In a system, no matter how rotten it is, it produces beneficiaries. People are happy with the old order, when people will go, take US Dollar form the CBN, and go to the Bureau De Change. Now, CBN doesn’t sell Dollars. It is the commercial banks that sell. What I think needs to be done is that beyond the government, all of us as Nigerians have a responsibility. What do we do? Let us be more creative, try to export more, try to produce local goods that sell abroad, so that more Dollars would come. Let us continue to stabilize the ongoing situation in the Niger Delta so that earnings from the oil sector are not disrupted. When we have more Dollars coming in, they will sell cheaper.”
