MARKET NEWS

Professor Iyabo Obasanjo, the daughter of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has said that the prevailing stabilization of the Naira against the dollar is a plus for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration and something commendable.

Obasanjo, who described the phenomenon of “stabilisation of the Naira is a big one,” noted that the predictability in the exchange rate is crucial for business growth and economic prosperity.

The former Senator for Ogun Central who recently declared her ambition to contest the 2027 governorship seat of the state, made this known on Saturday while speaking with journalists at Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, the state capital.

She lauded the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road project of President Bola Tinubu for its potential to decongest the Ogun  State corridor of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, ease transportation to the Eastern states, links Calabar and Lagos ports together and boost business along the corridor.

“I think there is a lot going on positively. One is the stabilisation of the Naira. “What that does is that people can predict how much money they will spend on imports and how much income they will get. So stabilisation of the Naira is a big one.

“Although there was a lot of negativity around the road to Calabar, that will generate income in terms of ports. They will connect the two ports now to the other one. It will also ease transportation to the East in ways that we can’t even start to reckon with.

” So, I think that the economic stability cannot be underestimated because when people can predict income and exports, they do it, things get better because then you are not buying something at one price because of the dollar instability, and having to sell, buying it at a higher price, and then it changes everything.

“There are also some improvements in security, mainly because now we have a lot of collaboration going on. The international collaboration, the President’s visit to different countries for trade and economic development, is rising. And that is the key to everything we do. I think that does.”

Iyabo Obasanjo, who was a Commissioner for Health in the state between 2003 and 2007, said she is now better qualified to be elected the first female governor in Nigeria, stressing that the state’s high literacy rate and rich history of female leadership—referencing icons like Madam Tinubu and legendary Egba women warriors—make it the natural trailblazer for gender inclusion in governance.

She said it is not the fault of Ogun Central that the people of Ogun West have not produced a governor since the creation of Ogun State on February 3, 1976, recalling that his father, ex – President Obasanjo and other leading politicians from the Central did work to see the emergence of a governor from the West but without success.

The governorship hopeful shared the sentiment that unless the East and Central yielded space, it may be difficult for the West to produce a governor, lamenting that there is no agreement or consensus yet between East and Central to concede ground for the West to produce a Governor soon.