The member representing Ifelodun/Boripe/Odo-Otin federal constituency of Osun State in the House of Representatives, Hon Soji Adetunji has charged the Federal Government to ban foreign products to boost Nigeria economy.
He further kicked against the use of foreign currencies, especially dollar in the country and called on the Federal Government to recognise the use of naira to encourage local economy to grow.
The lawmaker made the assertions at an empowerment programme organised for some of his constituents spread across Ifelodun/Odo-Otin Boripe federal constituency of Osun State where over #10million was given to some selected members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the constituency.
Adetunji stated that the economic hardship facing the country will end if Nigeria can turn to a productive economy saying, that over reliance on foreign items is killing the country’s economy.
“The federal government should discourage importation of goods into the country because, the importation of goods kills the country’s economy.
“The federal government should encourage production of goods in the country, in order to grow Nigeria’s economy. Nigeria allows certain things which other countries don’t allow. For instance cryptocurrency that thrives in Nigeria is not allowed on some country of the world.”
On the food stuffs and money given as palliatives to his constituents to cushion the effects of the current economic hardship in the country, Adetunji said the welfare of his people was paramount in his mind.
He, however, hinted that he had given scholarship to some selected students, especially the indigent ones in his constituency and that, he recently procured UTME forms for selected students in the constituency.
Reacting to the recent killings of 17 soldiers in Delta state, Adetunji said, the Federal Government must give all necessary support to the security agencies to curtail the insecurity in the country.
The federal lawmaker described the action of the assailants as barbaric, calling for necessary actions to fish out the perpetrators.
He noted that the security situation in the country has improved, calling on Nigerians to support the government in its fight against criminals.
He said, “I’m not saying the insecurity in the country has stopped but the situation has improved.
“The killing of our soldiers is barbaric. No matter how provoked you are, aside from God, these are the people that we have to protect us. I didn’t expect a civilian to do what they did.
“We need more arms for our security personnel. I’m going to move a motion in the house soon, compelling the Federal Government to give the necessary and maximum support to our security personnel.”
On the naira gaining value against the dollar, Adetunji said some of the monetary policies of the federal government were already yielding positive results.
He noted that the federal government needs to ban some foreign commodities, appealing to the citizens to patronise locally-made products.
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“When the new regime came in, the situation was worse but when it put some monetary policy in place, the naira is gaining value back.
“We are not a producing country. We don’t export anything. So, we don’t earn FX from abroad. We consume, we don’t produce. That was what caused most of these things. Also, we allowed things in our economy that foreign countries won’t allow.
“There are still a lot of things the federal government need to ban and we need to engage in export to earn FX which would make prices of things go down.“
