The 2027 presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, has said he would retain President Bola Tinubu’s floating exchange-rate policy if elected president.
Obi, however, said his administration would seek to strengthen the naira by increasing productivity and shifting the economy towards greater domestic production.
The former Anambra State governor disclosed this during an interview on Arise TV on Thursday.
Asked to identify one Tinubu administration policy he would retain if elected president, Obi said he would not reverse the naira float.
“There’s one – the floating of the Naira. I’m not going to defend it. But I’m going to put productivity to make it more valuable to the people,” he said.
The position represents a departure from the suggestion that a change of government would necessarily mean reversing the foreign exchange reforms introduced under Tinubu.
The Central Bank of Nigeria removed restrictions at the Investors and Exporters foreign exchange window in June 2023, allowing the naira to trade more freely against the dollar and effectively ending the previous multiple-exchange-rate regime.
The reform triggered a sharp depreciation of the currency, with the naira moving from below N500/$ around the time of the policy change to above N1,000/$ and later crossing N1,500/$ at various points.
Supporters of the floating regime have argued that it eliminates distortions, improves transparency in the foreign exchange market and provides a more market-driven basis for investment and trade.
Obi said his proposed approach would focus less on reversing the exchange-rate framework and more on improving the economic fundamentals supporting the currency.
He has repeatedly advocated moving Nigeria from a consumption-driven economy to one centred on production, exports and investment.
The 2027 presidential contest is expected to place economic management, inflation, exchange-rate stability, unemployment and the rising cost of living among the major issues confronting candidates.
