The Senate has proposed a ban on use of foreign currency for local transaction payments within Nigeria.
The bill titled: “A Bill for an Act to Alter the Central Bank of Nigeria Act 2007 No. 7 to Prohibit the Use of Foreign Currencies for Remuneration and for Other Related Matters is sponsored by Senator Ned Nwoko, the Chairman of Senate Committee on Reparations and Repartation.
The proposed legislation is with a view to ensuring that all payments bordering on salaries and other transactions are made in naira.
It is also aimed at abrogating discriminatory practices and encourage confidence in the Naira, especially by making it mandatory for exports to be paid for in naira.
Nwoko said that the bill also sought to prohibit salaries, transactions and payments in foreign currencies with a view to ensuring that all workers as well as expatriates were paid in naira.
He also proposed that crude oil and other exports are to be sold exclusively in naira, thereby mandating foreign buyers to purchase the currency and drive its demand and value.
According to Nwoko, there is a disturbing widespread of foreign currencies in the nation’s financial system, thereby weakening the value of the Naira and also aggravating economic challenges and hardship.
The legislator who expressed worries on the trend, described it as a colonial relic that continued to hamper the country’s economic independence and stability.
Nwoko, however, noted that the law, if passed, would position the naira as the central currency for financial activities, thereby reinforcing it’s dominance in the nation’s economy.
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