23rd February, 2024
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
The Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CFL Group of Companies, Lai Omotola has called on President Bola Tinubu to sign an executive order banning all cash dollar transactions across Nigeria, as one of the ways to save the Naira.
Omotola, who briefed newsmen on the State of the nation’s economy and the naira in Maryland, Lagos on Friday added that the president should ensure that all dollar transactions should now be bank to bank.
He proposed that the maximum cash any citizen and foreigner could hold in Nigeria should be 100 dollars, adding that any amount exceeding this should be automatically forfeited to the federal Government, while also proposing a total ban on street vending of dollars.
In his words: “To save our Naira. We propose that the President signs an executive order banning all cash-dollar transactions across the length and breadth of Nigeria. All dollar transactions should now be bank to bank.
“The maximum cash any citizen and foreigner can hold should not be more than 100 dollars. Any amount exceeding this will be automatically forfeited to the Federal Government. There should be a total ban on street vending of dollars.”
The business mogul, who said it is no longer news to say the nation’s economy is in a precarious State, argued that the dual policy of fuel removal and floating of the naira had resulted in depreciating the economy.
“Today, there is foreign exchange crisis and food crisis. We are not here to labour time on the problems rather our time will be to proffer solutions.
“As a business concern that had been in existence for the past 25 years, just one year more than our democratic period of 24 years, we have lived 100 per cent of all different administrations,” he said.
Omotola further proposed that amnesty should be given to everyone paying dollar cash for the next 90 days and that such cash lodgment should not be probed by the EFCC or any security agency.
“In as much as cash dollar deposits cannot be probed, every dollar payment from banks will be scrutinised,” he suggested.
Omotola also said the Federal Government should adopt a 100 per cent cashless policy in five commercial states in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
He further urged the government to activate the Whistleblowers Act such that a reward is made to anybody who is able to tell the Federal Government about hidden dollars, with such persons receiving their rewards seamlessly, arguing that “this will put everybody on their toes.”
“The following states should go 100 per cent cashless. Lagos, Kano, Kaduna Rivers, Enugu and Abuja. The maximum amount of cash anyone can hold in these states should not be more than N50,000,” he suggested.
According to Omotola, “If the above is implemented fully to the letter, which also includes a stop on the continuous printing of the new naira notes, but rather the old ones, within the next 30 days the naira will appreciate by 50 per cent; that is in the next 30 days, you will see the naira moving between N700 and N800 and by the end of the year, the true value of the naira to the dollar will emerge.”