Save The Naira: “Even If You Don’t Like Me, Do It Because You Like Yourself” – Senator Murray-Bruce

By Adesina Soyooye

At a time National Assembly  Members plan to spend hundreds of Billions of Naira to import exotic SUVs for their official use, a former Senator, Entrepreneur and Media Personality, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, has appealed to Nigerians to save Nigeria’s economy and the Naira by patronizing made in Nigeria goods and products.

In a post with a hashtag: #BuyNaijaToGrowTheNaira, Murray-Bruce appealed: “Even if you do not like me, do it because you like yourself.”

He explained why. He said because the immediate past Muhammadu Buhari Government took the funds from the sale of oil in advance, Nigeria is not getting money from its current oil sales. The result he said, is that “the Naira will not rise even if Nigeria sells more crude oil.” But more revealing: Murray-Bruce disclosed that far from what everyone thinks, Nigeria is not an oil rich country.

Murray-Bruce: “We are talking about 1.7 million barrels of oil per day to a population of over 200 million people.

He posited that Nigeria should stop looking at oil as its savior. His damning conclusion: “If we don’t persist in buying made in Nigeria goods and services, we will perish economically.”

The full text of his post reads:

“The Naira will not rise even if Nigeria sells more crude oil. Not only are we not getting money from present sales since the Buhari government took the funds in advance, but we are, also, not an oil-rich nation.

“We are talking about 1.7 million barrels of oil per day to a population of over 200 million people.

“Angola has just 15% of our population and produces more oil than we do. Stop looking at oil for our salvation. If we don’t persist in buying made in Nigeria goods and services, we will perish economically.

“#BuyNaijaToGrowTheNaira.Even if you do not like me, do it because you like yourself.

“The days of subsidised Naira are gone forever.

“There is no $1.5 billion to waste defending the Naira anymore. If you and I want a stronger Naira, we must defend it by changing our consumption habits.”

Apparently, Nigeria’s Federal  Lawmakers think otherwise. Instead of patronizing local vehicle manufacturers, they insist on importing their official cars from outside Nigeria, at a cost that would worsen Nigeria’s already distressed economy.

On Thursday, October 26, the exchange rate of a Dollar to one Naira, stood at N1, 300.