Ned Nwoko, the senator representing Delta North, has prescribed the ban on dollars as a necessary measure to halt the economic crisis assailing the nation, which has seen one dollar rise to nearly N2000, driving up the cost of goods and services.

During Friday’s National Assembly plenary, Mr Nwoko proposed that the House forbid the use of dollars for transactions since Nigeria’s excessive reliance on foreign exchange was hurting the naira and impeding its growth in the global market.

“We must understand that we have relegated the naira to the background. Everybody is talking about dollars, and the dollar is causing the problem,” the lawmaker lamented. “It might be a difficult thing to contemplate, but what has to be done is that we have to stop the use of dollars in Nigeria.”

But the lawmaker’s suggestion runs afoul of his sixth wife and actress, Regina Daniels’ patronage of Nigerian vendors who charge dollars for their products. 

Mr Nwoko’s wife is notable for flaunting dollars sent by the senator or other family members on her social media pages. This has raised questions about his call for the dollar ban in Nigeria.

On her last birthday in October 2023, Mrs Nwoko showed off her luxurious hair sourced from a famous Nigerian vendor who sells in dollars.

In January 2023, the Nollywood actress also posted a $100,000 credit transaction from Mr Nwoko, showering him with praise for funding her account with the foreign currency.

“I can’t believe an alert of $100,000 was sitting pretty in my account since yesterday afternoon, and I’m just discovering this. My husband has lots of mind-blowing doings up his sleeve; mehnnnnn thank you, baby,” Mr Nwoko’s sixth wife posted on her Instagram last year January.

In 2022, Mrs Nwoko similarly received a dollar money tree of eight tiers from her mother, Rita Daniels, who engaged the services of a luxury surprise vendor to arrange the dollars as a gift for her.