ECONOMY: TINUBU MUST BAN CASH DOLLAR TRANSACTIONS TO SAVE NAIRA’

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President Bola Tinubu must sign an executive order banning all cash dollar transactions if the Naira must be saved, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CFL Group of companies, Lai Omotola, has said.

Omotola added the President must also ensure that all dollar transactions is between bank to bank. He proposed that the maximum cash any citizen and foreigner can hold should be $100, adding that any amount exceeding this should be automatically forfeited to the Federal Government.

The engineer also proposed a total ban on street vending of dollars.

He said: “It is no longer news that the economy is in a precarious state. There is foreign exchange and food crisis. But we are not here to labour time on the problems but rather to proffer solutions.

“As a business concern of over 25 years, we have lived 100 per cent of all different administrations.

“To save our Naira, we propose that the President signs an executive order banning all cash-dollar transactions across Nigeria. All dollar transactions should also 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 government. There should be a total ban on street vending of dollars.

“In as much as cash dollar deposits cannot be probed, every dollar payment from banks will be scrutinized.”

Omotola also 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.

According to him, the government should adopt a 100 per cent cashless policy in five commercial states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

He further urged the government to activate the Whistleblowers Act to reward anyone who tells the government about hidden dollar.

He added: “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.

” If the above is implemented to the letter, which also includes a stop on the continuous printing of the new naira notes, but the old ones, the naira will appreciate by 50 per cent in the next 30 days.

“The Naira will move between N700 and N800 and, by the end of the year, the true value of the naira to the dollar will emerge.”