Iconic Folake Solanke urges CBN to stabilize naira

The first female Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Folake Solanke, has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stabilise value of the naira to prevent it from becoming totally useless.

The legal icon said the steady decline in the value of naira had made prices of commodities to soar beyond the reach of many Nigerians.

She spoke in Ibadan on Tuesday at a lecture organised by the Nigerian Bar Association, Ibadan  branch  to celebrate her  90th birthday.

She appealed to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, to put policies that would make the nation’s currency appreciate against other currencies

Solanke said, “The naira is gradually descending into nothingness with the foreign exchange at nearly N600 for one US dollar and nearly N800 for one pound sterling.

“Prices of petrol, diesel, food and all other basic consumer commodities have soared and become unaffordable. Let us appeal to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Chief Godwin Emefiele, to please help us to stabilise the naira so that it does not become totally valueless.

“As for the endemic corruption which is ravaging all aspects of life, all I say is,  let each one of us be corruption-free, then corruption will be eradicated from the polity. With all due humility, I declare that I am corruption-free. We must remain hopeful. Nigeria will survive.”

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Me Lateef Fagbemi, who delivered the lecture, called for stricter sanctions against members of the legal profession engaged in misconduct.

Fagbemi said, “One is pained that despite the efforts of people like Mama on the need to maintain the highest ethical standards in the profession, the present realities is nothing to write home about.

“It is disheartening to note that numerous cases of erring legal practitioners are currently pending before the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee. There is no gainsaying that this is not only overwhelming but burdensome for the committee when viewed from the perspective that the members of the LPDC don’t preside on the committee on a full time basis.

“Courses relating to professional ethics of legal practitioners should be introduced in our faculties of law nationwide. If our would-be lawyers are exposed to what would be required of them early enough, same would not come to them as a culture shock during their practice years as it would have become part and parcel of their lives”.

Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, who is chairman of the occasion, described Solanke as an “Iroko” in the legal profession with a star-filled life of legacies; a matriarch of the Ibadan Bar.”