EXTRA: Ubah claims credit for naira’s recovery

February 23, 2016 8:35 pm

The late Ifeanyi Ubah

Ifeanyi Ubah, managing director and CEO of capital oil, has claimed victory for the gains experienced by the naira over the past two days.

Speaking on Channels TV programme, Ubah had said that if consulted, he could restore the naira to 200 against the dollar in just 30 days.

“Look at the economy, look at the position of the naira today; some of us have ideas on how we can restore this,” he had said.

“Do you know how many Burea De Change people who food has been taken out of their families because of this? If you say they are the ones causing it, then where are you today?

“It needs strategic management. It won’t take me one month, if you give me part of that consultancy, 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.”

After his comments, the naira was quoted at 370 to the greenback on Monday, and it rose to 364 on Tuesday morning, closing trading hours around 340.

Arguing that the currency is recovering due to his efforts, he said in a statement on Tuesday: “Fellow Nigerians, I wish to thank you for the support and encouragement you have given me so far. It has been unprecedented.

“As at this evening, the Dollar has dropped further to N310 as against N390 on Sunday evening before my interview on Channels.

“This shows that the earlier increase has been artificial as some people were manipulating and benefitting from it. They will all be fished out in due course so that Nigeria will be better and the suffering of the masses will end.

“With God and our sincere efforts, even when we have not been fully consulted, the Dollar can still be brought down to N200 and below. Let the discourse continue. Shun the Dollar till it’s N200. Pray for Nigeria and let the Dollar go down to N200 and below.”

Independent investigations by TheCable show that “big companies” are shunning dollars on the parallel market, reducing demand, consequently leading to an appreciation of the currency.