Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, says the naira in its best possible health against the dollar.
He spoke while featuring on Channels Television’s ‘Sunday Politics’ programme monitored by The PUNCH.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that the Central Bank of Nigeria last week officially made the NAFEX Investor & Exporter forex window rate of N410.25 as its official exchange rate to the dollar. It confirmed this new official rate on its website after it had removed N379/$ earlier in May.
The naira was N197 to 1$ in 2015 when Shehu’s principal, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), took over as Nigeria’s president.
Responding to a question on the naira-dollar rate in 2015 and in 2021, Shehu said, “I think the economists are more competent to talk about this but the naira is in the best possible health that it can be given the circumstance we are in.”
When asked to respond to criticisms that the Buhari government lacks the capacity to manage the economy, the presidential aide said, “If you ask me this question, I will tell you that whoever questions the capacity of the government to manage the economy probably also need to have themselves re-examined because look at all of the things that have happened with COVID over the last year or more.
“Can you see that in the entire Africa continent, this is the only country that is recording positive growth in its economy? Everybody is going under but our people are working day and night to ensure we don’t go under, we don’t go down as other countries.”
“As far as I know, this government has the best team that anybody can have on the continent because the facts are there speaking for the administration,” he stressed.
– Punch