A former House of Representatives member, Robinson Uwak, has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to engage in confidence building measures to restore the country’s depleting foreign reserves. 

Mr Uwak, who represented Oron, Mbo, Okobo, Ure-Offong/Oruko and Udung-Uko Federal Constituency of Akwa Ibom at the 7th Assembly, gave the advice on Saturday in a statement made available in Abuja.

The ex-lawmaker said engaging in import substitution and currency control would help firm up the value of the naira in the short to medium term, while a more expansive, long term economic plan should be devised.

“The dollarisation of domestic spending and huge wastes in governance must be curbed, and we must build a national consensus on the way forward for our future economic system,” he said.

Mr Uwak called on the CBN and all relevant institutions to halt the current slide of the naira.

In recent days, the naira has traded at N1,000 against the dollar in some quarters, fueling inflation in consumer goods that are traded on foreign currencies as the country is basically an import-oriented economy underwritten by the mono product of oil.

The former legislator, therefore, said it was time to stop the currency slide.

(NAN)