Central Bank
Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, says but for the timely policy implementations
over the years by the CBN, the nation’s economy would have been
worse off and
even probably collapsed.
He said
successive policies implemented by the apex bank were responsible for the
healthy status of the Nigerian banks, as vulnerable Nigerians and some key
economic sectors had been protected and given lifelines by the CBN.
Speaking
yesterday at the All Civil Society National Economic Summit, held in Abuja,
Emefiele who was represented by his Special Assistant, Mr Emmanuel Ukeje, said
against the backdrop of criticisms of some key decisions of the CBN, the truth
remains that loop holes had been blocked and a far more sanitised environment
provided for in the banking industry.
“If policies
like recapitalisation and the Treasury Single Account had not been created, you
wouldn’t have imagined what our banks would have become. For instance, prior to
recapaitalition, the total number of commercial banks could not match asset
base of a single South African bank. But this is not the case anymore as our
banks are now robust.
“The same goes
for TSA which removed sharp practices in some banks as instances arose where
you had banks using government money lodged with them to buy government bonds.
In other words, government was buying bonds back with their own cash through
these banks which basically reaped the system”, Emefiele stated.
The CBN
Governor who said government would soon
outline steps being taken by the
government to pull out of recession stated that the government was being
careful not to spend on non-productive sectors but bent on firing the economy
to super growth through wise utilisation and allocation of resources to
critical and vital areas.
Speaking at
the event earlier, former Villa Chaplain, Prof. Yusuf Obaje, who presented a
paper at the event called for adoption of a national ideology, stating that
this had become pertinent if the nation was to have a developmental footspring.
He regretted
that despite the times the country was in, there was nothing much being done by
all including the citizenry to change the tides.
While calling
for a national ideology as a propelling force for a greater Nigeria, Obaje also
urged the CBN to tackle the high interest rates charged by banks to allow
growth in small scale industries.
President,
Coalition of Civil Society Groups, Comrade Bassey Etuk, while commending the identification of economic problems by
the Nigerian government and the show of strenuous efforts at addressing the
issues, said the best of policies and programmes are only as good as the public
acceptance and mass support accorded such policies.
“The efforts
of President Muhammadu Buhari-led
government through the Central Bank of Nigeria in ensuring the implementation
of laudable monetary policies, have helped in no small measure to mitigate what
otherwise would have been a more disastrous situation than what we are
currently passing through as a nation.
“The exclusion
of certain items from access to foreign exchange, implementation of the Bank
Verification Number, BVN, and the Treasury Single Account credit support in
favour of local production such as rice, maize and sorghum to mention but a few
are well thought out policies deliberately targeted at solving the myriad if
challenges already created by many years of planlessness”, Comrade Williams
stated.
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