…Says stronger naira will cut food prices
By Michael Oche
The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has called on the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to take decisive action to strengthen the naira to between N900 and N1,000 per U.S. dollar, insisting that a stronger currency would lower food and commodity prices and ease the burden on Nigerian workers.
TUC President-General, Comrade Festus Osifo, made the appeal in Abuja on Tuesday while addressing journalists on the economy, insecurity, and rising food costs. He noted that although the naira had appreciated from about N1,800/$ in early 2024 to around N1,380/$ currently, the gains had not translated into sufficient relief for ordinary Nigerians.
“Today, it has stabilised around 1,380 naira to a dollar. But the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria still feels that this is still relatively high. We still believe that our naira is still undervalued,” Osifo said.
He argued that the fair value of the naira, based on purchasing power parity and assessments by economic institutions, could be around N900–N1,000 to the dollar. “We strongly believe that the fair value of our naira, as explained by all agencies, as explained by all economic think tanks, including the World Bank and IMF, including the government of CBN, we know that the fair value of our naira using purchasing power parity could be somewhere around 900 naira, maximum N1,000 to a dollar,” he added.
Osifo stressed that while macroeconomic indicators showed some stability, workers and households continued to grapple with high prices. “The macroeconomy is known to economists. It is known to the bourgeois. But for the talakawas, for the workers, for the traders, all they relate with are the issues that are bordering on the microeconomy,” he said.
He explained that the weakness of the naira was preventing macroeconomic gains from reaching the microeconomic level, as virtually every aspect of production and consumption had a dollar component. “The value of everything reflects devaluation, especially if they are imported goods,” he noted.
Osifo also criticised wage adjustments for failing to reflect the impact of the naira’s depreciation. “One of those things that never reflects devaluation is the earnings of the Nigerian workers,” he said. He added that although the minimum wage represented about a 133 per cent increase, “the consequential adjustment that was done by almost all tiers of government was really abysmal.”
He concluded by highlighting the imbalance: “The only people that don’t reflect that are the workers, because they did not actually implement the consequential adjustment the way it should be done.”
The TUC insists that decisive measures to strengthen the naira are critical to easing inflationary pressures and restoring purchasing power for Nigerian workers.
