Tag: cbn

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the weekend, said those behind the protest against its foreign exchange (forex) policies preferred that the country remained an import-dependent nation because of their selfish interests.

Speaking at the sidelines of the 329th meeting of the Bankers’ Committee in Lagos, CBN’s Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, said the protest organisers capitalised on the trying times the country is experiencing to blackmail the CBN and its top management.

Last week, some people in red T-shirts and face-caps besieged the apex bank’s Head Office, protesting the falling exchange rate of the naira. The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele has on a number of occasions urged Nigerian to re-enact their patriotic zeal and bear the pains of resuscitating the nation’s ailing economy in order to achieve a more diversified economic system.

Speaking on the development, Okorafor said: “I also want to say that we are not joining issues with anybody. And we at the CBN are not going to yield to any kind of blackmail where you block avenues where people have been doing round-tripping, and they come to you and say, if you do not do this, we will to that. Then, they go and organise some innocent women, printed T-shirts for them and come around and say, they are coming to protest.”

He said to resolve the forex  crisis, the CBN came up with a list of 41 items, which Nigeria has comparative advantage to produce locally, and as such decided that it would no longer allow importers of those items access to forex.

However, some merchandisers in alliance with some chambers of commerce kicked against the policy and threatened fire and brimstone against the CBN and its management.

The CBN spokesman said the apex bank would not be deterred by such actions. “Some pockets of actions. All we know is that our economy is facing very serious situations and we are putting our heads together, both people on the monetary and fiscal sides, to be able to find solutions. And some of the solutions include what we at the CBN are already doing. We are trying to ensure that the little foreign exchange that comes in is judiciously utilised,” he said.

He said there was need to stimulate the economy and create jobs. “And we are also doing a lot to try to diversify the economy, fund agriculture so as to provide food for our people and provide alternatives for some of the commodities that have driven the foreign exchange market to this level,” he said.

Continuing, Okorafor said: “We will not succumb to any blackmail. This situation was brought on to us by ourselves, and our yesterday’s failures. It was not brought by the CBN, or by the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who is working very hard to ensure that the economy recovers,” adding : ”that the CBN will continue to control inflation and create opportunities for the people.”

Analysts believed that as the CBN battles to stem the tide of economic crisis that has engulfed the country, it appears that blackmailers have siezed the opportunity to feast on the present predicament.

“Nigeria in the past has gone through similarly traumatic economic crisis, but the bane of our approach towards finding a lasting solution lies in our inability to patiently go through the painful route, but more enduring policy options. “There is no doubt that the Emefiele-led CBN has ingeniously crafted policies and procedures that has helped to plug the loopholes of frittering away our hard earned foreign exchange, thereby incurring the wrath of the merchandising class, who would have preferred the Bank to stick to the frivolous status quo of the past,” analysts said.

The global economic crisis that precipitated into falling commodity prices, including international crude oil prices from $140 in July 2014 to less than $50 in 2016. The situation has led to drastic reduction in foreign exchange revenue to the government and fast depletion of the country’s foreign reverses. It also manifested reduction in revenue accruing to all tiers of government, thereby making it impossible for state governments to pay salaries.

–The Director, Monetary Policy Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Moses Kpughur, has expressed confidence in the ability of the apex bank to achieve exchange rate stability, which is one of its core mandates.

Speaking at the 21st Annual Conference of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) in Abuja, he expressed concern over volatility of the exchange rate and high inflation rate.

Kpughur stated this in a paper titled: Economic Management and Monetary Policy: An Assessment of the Policy Environment in Uncertain Times.  He said the apex bank had been able to control inflation, pointing out that as long as there is increase in liquidity or volume of cash in circulation, too much money would chase fewer goods.

He also said that the apex bank was, in its quest for price stability, taking note of the interest rate, exchange rate and the prices of goods and services. He recalled that two years ago, the entire world was shocked with the drop in crude oil prices from as high as $108 per barrel to as low as under $40 per barrel.

Kpughur said that the shock affected Nigeria’s growth projections and those of other oil producing countries. “The drop in oil revenue effected government’s expenditure,’’ the CBN chief said.  He blamed the situation on government’s over-dependence on a single commodity, which is crude oil.

The CBN chief also said that activities in states like non-payment of workers’ salaries had affected the monetary policy. He observed that expenditure kept on increasing because the nation’s population is also growing. “Until our income grows more than the population, we would keep on having economic problems. If you spend more money on capital projects, you are investing in the future, ’’ Kpughur said.

Head, Investigation Department, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Adedayo Kayode, highlighted the nature of corruption in the country.

He spoke on the theme: Control Framework Against Corruption. He said abuse of positions and privileges; low level of transparency and accountability; inflation of contracts; bribery/kickbacks are to blame for corruption.

Kayode lamented the act of misappropriation/diversion of funds, under and over invoicing, false declaration, advance fee fraud, assets swapping, and corruption in education sector and other deceptive schemes.

According to him, these are:   control through enforcement; control through financial intelligence and control through asset declaration and verification; control through corruption risk assessment and control through occupational and professional regulatory bodies and control through education and public enlightenment.

For effective performance, he urged accountants to improve on capacity; increased human resources, increased funding, enhanced salary. Kayode also spoke on the critical challenges in fighting corruption such as poor funding, lack of political will among others.

A communique issued at the end of the conference said infrastructural development should be carried out. The participants said that to get the Nigerian economy out of the present predicament, government should ensure speedy recovery of the ailing economy, foster growth and sustainability.

The conference recommended that there should be a clear policy direction, coordinated communication, more engagement with stakeholders, restoration of investor confidence, legal reforms, ease of doing business and competitiveness.