The National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) has recommended that Nigerians make intentional efforts to restructure the country’s economy and fortify the naira by utilising the country’s cultural assets.
The request was issued in a statement on Sunday by NCAC Director-General, Olusegun Runsewe.
According to Runsewe, there has been an extraordinary decline in the value of the Nigerian Naira, which started during the SAP period and is still ongoing.
According to him, this calls for a thorough reorientation of values and has also put the country’s cultural ideals to the test.
“There has been no time in the socio-economic evolution of Nigeria that the naira, the nation’s national currency, has been under such severe pressure as it is today.
“With the exchange rate of one US dollar to less than one naira in the 70s, the exchange rate of the naira to the dollar today has risen beyond N1,000 to one US dollar.
“As a free market economy, the value of our nation’s currency would ultimately be determined by the market forces of demand and supply.
“This has implications on our level of consumption of foreign goods and services and by extension, our values,” he said.
Runsewe observed that the nation’s principles were correct during the time when the naira held significant economic influence on the international stage.
He said “Our attitudes were positive and our personal dispositions were supportive of our developmental aspirations.
“We were a nation committed to Agriculture as the mainstay of our economy while aggressively embarking on solid mineral exploration to drive a diversified economy.”
