Peter Obi, the Nigeria Democratic Congress presidential candidate, says he would preserve President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s liberalised foreign-exchange regime if elected on January 16, 2027. Speaking in a Thursday interview with Arise TV, Obi defended the decision to allow the naira to float, a policy introduced by the Tinubu administration in 2023.
Obi said he would not attempt to prop up the currency in the manner used during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. Rather than spending resources to defend a fixed exchange rate, he said his focus would be on raising productivity so that the naira could gain greater value for Nigerians. “The naira is floating, and I will not defend it. I will make the economy more productive and allow that to strengthen its value for the people,” he said.
The former governor of Anambra State has also expressed support for Tinubu’s decision to end the fuel subsidy. That move pushed petrol prices from approximately N238 per litre in May 2023 to between N1,310 and N1,350 per litre. Tinubu’s foreign-exchange reforms similarly led to a sharp weakening of the naira, with the currency falling to N1,329.21 per dollar from roughly N470.
