BY CHINYERE OBIORA, LAGOS – In the face of rising demand for foreign exchange for goods, services, and other needs, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele says it will be deceitful thinking that the nation’s foreign exchange challenges can be addressed solely by monetary policy alone.
He however assured that the CBN will not relent in working to manage both the demand and supply sides to meet foreign exchange obligations of the country.
Clearly hammering on a more diversified economy, the apex Bank Governor said Monetary Policy alone cannot bear all the burden of the expected adjustments needed to manage the challenges to the Nigerian economy.
According to him; “These problems call for urgent design and steadfast implementation of other supportive, structural, and complementary policies that are broad based, coordinated and focused on complementing the work of the monetary authority.”
Emefiele, who also attributed the current challenges facing the Nigerian economy to a combination of local and global factors that include COVID-19 pandemic, delays in global logistic value chains and local security challenges, expressed concern that most of Nigeria’s current sources of foreign exchange inflows were unreliable and therefore prone to fluctuations of global economic developments.
Emefiele, whose submissions were contained in a keynote to the maiden bi-annual Non-Oil Export Summit held in Lagos, said besides adversely impacting food production among other areas, the global economic challenges have continued to exert undue pressure on the economy, thereby exposing its fragility and making macroeconomic management a difficult task to manage.
He reiterated the need for a more diversified economy, noting that Nigeria could be great without crude oil, the global price of which the country had no control over.
The CBN Boss therefore urged all stakeholders to regroup and work together towards repositioning Nigeria on a growth trajectory by taking diversification of the economy much more seriously, emphasizing that Nigeria had very little choice left but to look inwards and find innovative solutions to its challenges.
For him, avoiding sudden adjustments to Nigeria’s economic life means focusing on strategies that can help the country earn more stable and sustainable inflows of foreign exchange.
“We would need to follow the best practices of other countries and ensure that we protect ourselves a little bit from factors that are beyond our immediate control.
“This is the time to start working in synergy for the good of our nation. This is the time for us as a Banking Community to do more and support exporters who have been flying the flag of Nigeria in the international market space,” Emefiele declared.
Although he admitted the enormity of the ultimate goal of US$200 billion in non-oil exports over the medium term, Emefiele expressed confidence that the goal was attainable, given the fact that many countries less endowed than Nigeria had achieved much in the field of agriculture.
To underscore his point, he further said within a short period of implementing the Non-Oil FX Rebate Scheme, the country had recorded a significant increase in non-oil export repatriation, adding that eligible exporters had been paid over N3.5 billion in rebates.
Also speaking at the event, Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, lauded the CBN and other actors in the banking sector for supporting the efforts by the Federal Government and states, especially Lagos, to boost growth in the economy.
Mr. Sanwo-Olu expressed optimism that the Lekki Deep Seaport, described as the largest in West Africa, will be handed over for use at the end of 2022, thereby providing enormous opportunities to exporters to ply their trade and by extension improve the export earnings of the country.
He stated that as part of efforts to decongest the Apapa and Tin Can Island Ports in Lagos, the State Government is awaiting approval for work to begin on the Badagry Ports in the Western part of Lagos.
He also assured stakeholders that the Lagos State Government will always promote policies and programmes to ease the process of doing business in the State, adding that his administration also remained committed to boosting tourism in the State.
