Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has lamented the free fall of the naira, saying the Federal Government printed too much money in circulation.
The governor stated this during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday.
“I believe that the major problem we have is financial discipline. We are dealing with an economy where we printed so much money, at the last count, we will be nearing N30 trillion,” he said.
“So what happens with ways and means is that the quantum of goods that you have available in an economy does not increase with the quantity of money that you print.”
Consumption To Production
During the interview, the governor, who is a member of the Labour Party (LP), said the nation must move from consumption to production for the economy to recover.
He condemned the situation whereby Africa’s largest economy imports virtually every product, saying it piles much pressure on the foreign market.
“The issue of production versus consumption, if the economy must recover, we must move to production.
“That does not necessarily mean we will reduce consumption; what it means is that we will be consuming what we produce, to the extent that we are importing virtually everything. You keep piling pressure on the foreign exchange market,” he said.