Pres. Tinubu To Shore Up Foreign Exchange, Investments For Nigeria at the Paris Summit

Dele Alake, Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communication and Strategy, stated while speaking with journalists in Paris on Wednesday that President Tinubu is attending the Global Financial Pact Summit in Paris, France, to shore up Nigeria’s foreign exchange and to complement his recent financial policy.

The President left Nigeria on Tuesday to participate in the summit scheduled for Thursday, June 22 and Friday 23.

Alake said the President intends to use the summit to “network with international finance corporations, institutions and countries that are well healed, that would facilitate or that could facilitate direct foreign investment into Nigeria.”

He said the decision follows explicitly Tinubu’s recent decision to unify the multiple exchange rates in the country.

The Presidential spokesperson said the decision has led to a slight spike in demand which has affected the value of the naira.

Giving further details, Alake said the new policy had lifted all restrictions on domiciliary accounts, adding that the policy will build more confidence in the foreign exchange system in Nigeria.

“People abroad can begin to bring in their money into the economy, even those at home, who have hoarded their dollars for fear of restrictions and all that will now be more encouraged to bring the dollars into the financial system.

“However, with all of these, you still need a direct foreign injection of foreign exchange to build or complement the domestic policies. That is the essence of this meeting, and it is a global summit”.

Alake added that many investors have already shown interest in meeting with Tinubu and that the President’s team had already mapped out the structure and strategies of these meetings.

Alake listed the countries to include the USA, France and Switzerland, as well as other international financial institutions.

He said a lot of international investors exited Nigeria in the recent past because of the restrictive currency policies that were in place, which made business to be so stifled.

He said now that the policies are being liberalised and freed to market forces, “in the short run, we will need very comprehensive and robust direct foreign investment into the country. So we are very, very hopeful that some of these meetings he is going to have will come to fruition and bear very positive fruits and yield results for Nigeria.”