Ooni of Ife also advised Nigerians to work on their cravings for imported goods to save Naira
By Kehinde Okeowo
The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi has advised the Federal Government to go Nigerians who engage in Dollars hoarding.
He made the call over the weekend during the graduation ceremony of 150 women tricycle riders, held side-by-side adire exhibition by South-West adire makers.
Ooni of Ife also encouraged Nigerians to buy adire, otherwise known as ‘tie and dye’ fabrics and other locally-made fabrics instead of foreign ones in order to strengthen the Naira.
His call is coming amid the continued depreciation of the Naira in the foreign exchange market.
Oba Ogunwusi, further argued that Nigerians must work on their cravings for imported goods to save the Naira, while calling on the government to go after those hoarding dollars.
Speaking during the event, Ooni said: “Honestly, we are the problem of ourselves in this country. Why do we need dollars? We don’t need dollars. Our legal tender is naira. We buy things with naira, so why the pressure on the dollar?
“I implore the government to be very strict. They should go after people keeping dollars, even in their local banks. It doesn’t make any sense because that is not the legal tender of our nation.
“If we patronise our own products in this country, there won’t be pressure on the dollar. The exhibition of our local fabrics, we are very happy about it. We implore the government to be involved in this kind of initiative from time to time.
“Government should promote initiatives like this (adire). These are home-made goods, 100 per cent made with naira. Our leaders should do more. They should wear Nigeria, they should talk Nigeria, they should reason Nigeria.”