Following yesterday’s rebound of the Naira against the Dollar, Chairman of Capital Oil and Gas, Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah on Thursday warned that there is a time limit within which he can prevent speculators from causing further damage to the Naira.
The businessman, who warned that the saboteurs responsible for the decline in the value of the Naira
“might still go back to their old business and the dollar will go up” if the Federal Government does not quickly act in line with his advice, stating that he has been receiving threat messages since he volunteered to help revamp the Naira.
It would be recalled that Ubah had on Sunday at a Channels Television programme stated that he had what it takes to restore the Naira, which was by then trading at close to 400, to 200 against the dollar in one month, if consulted by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He had said, “Look at the economy, look at the position of the naira today; some of us have ideas on how we can restore this.”
“It won’t take me one month, if Buhari gives me part of that consultancy, and naira would come back to 200.
“I can bet my life with it, naira would come back to N200. If you call me for that consultancy, I would put naira back to 200.”
Three days after he made this claim, the Nigerian currency firmed up against the Dollar in about 100 per cent, to the extent of trading at 250 against the American greenback as at yesterday.
But reacting to this in RayPower 100.5 FM programme: Political Platform, monitored by DAILY POST in Abuja, the Capital Oil boss said: “I’ve been getting threats from certain individuals using unknown numbers. The issue is this: I sincerely believe that one with God is majority. If government is sincere with the masses, let them look into what we are saying. Let them look into what Nigerians are saying. We cannot keep this thing for long. They might still go back to their old business and the dollar will go up.
“I’ve volunteered to help. I am not a jobless person. If they don’t do what they are supposed to do, I will go back to my business. I have something I’m doing. What I wanted to do is to get involved and at the same time advise the people saddled with the responsibility. I’m not only saying the president should call me. I said even the managers of forex, even the CBN can invite to say can you give us a lecture, can you help us with the market square information. Let me give them the advice on what they need to do because we understand this thing. You cannot come into any strong position in government without being a practical person. You must practicalize the way things happen in this country and then you add academic concept into it and then you bring a good result.”
Speaking on what he would do if invited to manage the Naira, he said: “I will tell them look gentlemen, we are here for business. This business is not for us to enrich ourselves. This business is not for us to monopolize things for ourselves or to corner something to ourselves or to our cronies. We are here to serve Nigerians, let us make this thing available to Nigerians so that Nigerians can be happy and God will be happy with us.”
Ubah, who told the anchors of the programme that he does not want to take credit for the substantial firming up of the Naira against the Dollar, gave an insight into how he went about achieving the feat thus: “What I am telling you is that since Sunday that we took that position, people within my structure disseminate close to 70,000 text messages at every time we disseminate information and if you understand the multiplier effect of that 70,000 contacts which spreads to so many millions. This is what we need.
“You need to build into the consciousness of people that this is where we are going. This is what is happening. If you don’t have a means of disseminating information, people will not understand what is happening.
“I’ve not taken contract from government and I don’t need anybody to pay me anything. All I want is for Nigerians to be happy,” he added, even as he maintained that the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, lacked the right approach and the political will to secure the Naira: “Some of the policies CBN has are academic policies. It’s not a market-square policy. It’s not a policy that touches people. They have academic policy and there is no enforcement. Have you ever heard that CBN prosecuted one single individual in the last two years for violating foreign policy?” he asked.
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