The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Central Bank of Nigeria

  • CBN forex policy: Manufacturers seek time for backward Integration

    The Union of Tomato Paste Manufacturers in Nigeria has appealed to the Federal Government to hold back on the forex policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in order to avail them more time for backward integration.

    The triple concentrate, which is the major raw material for the production of packed tomato paste, was listed amongst the 41 items banned from accessing foreign exchange from the official window by the CBN.

    This policy has made it impossible for firms to import tomato concentrate which in turn is having an adverse effect on the production of the product.
    Speaking through the Managing Director, Sonia Foods Industries Ltd, Mr. Nnamdi Nnodebe, the manufacturers appealed for more time to further invest in backward integration in the country.

    “As a group, we are committed to the growth of the Nigerian economy and also wish to boost the GDP of the nation through the production and exportation of tomato paste.

    “However, we will be pleased if the government can avail us more time to allow for backward integration just like it applies to some other sectors of the country,” he said.
    Mr. Nnamdi further stressed that the Union has begun the process of backward integration in some parts of the country but that the support for the process is critical to its success.

    “We plead with the relevant government agencies to provide adequate support in terms of easy access to arable land, low interest loans, irrigation facility, technical and also infrastructural support.

    “In the long run, we intend to establish a triple concentrate factory using locally harvested product which would fill up the huge shortage of about 150, 000 MT in the Nigerian tomato paste market,” he added.

    The tomato industry is one of the sub-sectors where Nigeria is highly advantaged and Nigeria is ranked second largest producer of tomato in Africa and thirteenth largest in the world, producing 1.7million tonnes of tomato annually at an average of 6MT per hectare, all of which remains insufficient to sustain the tomato paste industry in Nigeria.
    The recent policy of the CBN according to Nnamdi, will lead to approximately 100,000 job loss, increase in the product cost and ultimately the shutting down of some of the production companies if this is not well managed through adequate time for backward integration.
    Backward integration refers to a company buying or internally producing parts of its supply chain locally. It is a vertical integration that combines a core business with local suppliers of its raw materials. Advantages of backward integration may include assurance of the pricing, quality and availability of supplies, and efficiencies gained from coordinating production of supplies with their consumption.

  • Full text of Saraki’s speech during IMF Chief’s visit

    Full text of Saraki’s speech during IMF Chief’s visit

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    ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, HIS EXCELLENCY, SENATOR (DR.) ABUBAKAR BUKOLA SARAKI TO THE MEETING WITH THE PRINCIPAL OFFICERS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ON THE VISIT OF MADAME CHRISTINE LAGARDE, MANAGING DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND, (IMF) ON 06 JANUARY, 2016.

    Protocol:

    Your Excellency, on behalf of my Distinguished and Honourable colleagues, I warmly welcome you and your entourage to the National Assembly. Your historic visit today, is a testament of the importance you attach to the role of the legislature in the attainment of economic development policies.

    Your Excellency, your visit in this New Year is very auspicious as we begin to deliberate on the 2016 Appropriation Bill as the world economy rebalances in response to falling commodity prices, in particular oil.

    Your Excellency, this National Assembly congratulates you and appreciates the new IMF recognition of the pivotal role parliamentarians could play in forging sustainable development policies for the attainment of the IMF mandate. To me this is critical to minimizing the erroneous perception on IMF policy prescriptions and conditionalities that have been entrenched over the years especially in Africa.

    This, I believe, is vital to the success of the Fund’s policies and programmes not only now but also in the future. As legislators, we play an important role in making our people understand IMF advice, policy trade-offs, consultations and other engagements, so that ownership, transparency and accountability are brought to bear in economic policy choices.

    Since the year 2000 when the IMF/World Bank Group founded the Parliamentary Network which is an independent, non-governmental organisation, participation in the programmes has been on the rise by legislators from all over the World. We commend the initiative. This outreach to legislators is a win-win situation since one of the objectives is to familiarize the legislators with the rationale behind the IMF advisory.

    We recommend that IMF should further strengthen this network as a veritable tool towards greater convergence of understanding and engagement.

    Here at home, the effect of the low oil prices on government revenue is challenging us to think out of the box in funding the repair of infrastructure, boosting employment, and securing our borders and people. These are no mean tasks and we welcome the support of our friends in this trying period.

    Our economic fundamentals remain robust and the economy is resilient to absorb the current oil price shock. The situation is bringing out the entrepreneurship in us. Our private sector is also rising to the challenge. We assure you we will use this occasion to build a new economy diversified away from the perennial effects of oil price shocks.

    The 8th National Assembly will provide the legislative leadership in ensuring a conducive environment for business to thrive.

    The Nigerian legislature strongly believes that having a collaborative working relationship with the Executive Branch of government brings development closer to the people. Since the advent of the new administration, we have worked closely to stabilize the economy and steady the fiscal environment. This, we have indeed demonstrated by the speedy passage of the Medium Term Expenditure Frame Work (MTEF) and recently in the postponement of our recess in order to receive President Muhammadu Buhari to present the 2016 Appropriation Bill. We have also set in motion activities towards reforming our oil and gas industry through legislative initiatives in order to meet international best practices.

    Engaging with our people the issues we strongly made here of FOREX – to do business.
    This is expected – what IMF can do to bridge the gap.
    CBN to advise open – allow Forex
    (ii) No devaluation.
    (iii) Loans to SMEs – bring interest to CBN
    (iv) Technical assistance
    (v) Support policies.

    The 8th Senate Legislative Agenda is of particular interest in Parliamentary Network initiative which brings together parliamentarians and representatives of private sector as well as civil society organisations to discuss how to improve the environment for doing business in the developing world and how countries can increase their ranking in publications such as “Doing Business Report”.

    The purpose of our Legislative Agenda is to enable us focus our lawmaking in areas that will help create jobs, expand our infrastructure base and make our economy work for the benefit and happiness of the majority of our people. Pivotal to the attainment of this overarching objective is the state of the Nigerian business environment. In collaboration with major stakeholders, the 8th Senate is presently signing a memorandum of understanding on “The Enhancing Nigerian Advocacy for Better Business Environment Project,” a National Assembly business and investment round-table initiative, with developmental organizations.

    These roundtables will provide opportunity to the private sector to work closely with the legislature in developing friendly-business environment.

    The initiative will commence with a review of institutional, regulatory and legal instruments currently becoming impediments and bottlenecks to doing business in Nigeria.

    Your Excellency, Distinguished and Honourable colleagues, in closing, I want you to take away these messages:

    Legislature/Executive Collaboration on the Economy:

    The National Assembly is committed to working closely with the Executive arm in addressing the challenges facing the Nigerian economy. This is the position on both sides of the aisle;

    Diversifying and Modernizing Our Economy:
    We will support the Executive with legislation where necessary to give confidence to investors.

    Blocking Revenue Leakages:
    We are assiduously working towards blocking identified legal loopholes on revenue leakages and expanding our tax base;

    Conducive Business Environment:
    We are giving priority to legislation aimed at providing a more conducive business environment in general and reducing the cost of doing business in Nigeria; and

    Ending Impunity and Reducing Corruption: The National Assembly more than ever before, is working at improving its oversight systems to expose corruption wherever it may be, and providing better legal frameworks to entrench the rule of law and end impunity.

    The global economy is currently well interconnected. With our economic weight in our sub-region, a well functioning Nigerian economy provides a strong pillar to its growth. We therefore, implore the international community and financial institutions to partner with us in supporting our economic development aspirations.

    On this note, Your Excellency, we welcome you once again to our beautiful city and wish you the Season’s Greetings.

    Bienvenue!

    PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE

  • FG bans use of credit cards abroad

    FG bans use of credit cards abroad

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has ordered all commercial banks to stop customers from using their debit and credit cards abroad.

    Due to the latest development, banks are beginning to communicate the apex bank’s directive to customers through emails, noting that it is a “temporary measure”.

    The directive, which takes effect from January 1, 2016, will no doubt affect access to foreign online retailers.

    This is part of Federal Government’s efforts to obstruct the flow of foreign exchange out of the country.

  • CBN may blacklist banks used for money laundering – Official

    CBN may blacklist banks used for money laundering – Official

    The Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria in charge of Financial System Surveillance (FSS), Mr. Okechukwu Joseph Nnanna, on Tuesday said the apex bank may blacklist banks used for money laundering.

    He also said management and directors of such banks will be in trouble.

    The CBN official also said he cannot say exactly how much of looted funds had been recovered and deposited in CBN.

    Nnanna, who spoke with journalists in Abuja on the sideline of a workshop organised by the Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), said it will no longer be business as usual.

    He said: Any bank which we discover has been used, or manipulated by criminals who launder money, corrupt politicians who launder money, that bank and directors would be held accountable.

    “Not only paying fines, we can also ask them to be blacklisted and will never work in the financial system any more. That is a very severe punishment.

    “People who finance terrorists come in different guises, they may be genuine businessmen who after a while may turn to be criminals but what is important is for the banks to make sure that the customer who comes to deposit money and withdraw money, they must know who he is. Not only knowing who he is, they must know his or her business.”

    Asked what CBN is doing to check money laundering, the deputy governor said the apex bank has put in place many control mechanisms.

    He added: “At the CBN, we are doing a great deal. The bank has in fact put in place a regime of controls particularly for commercial banks. Know Your Customers (KYC) is a very serious affair with us.

    “You don’t go to the bank and open an account and go and lodge in N5 million, N10 million without you being reported to the NFIU and to the EFCC. You will be reported to explain the source of that money.

    “We are not saying that Nigerians are all criminals. If you are a genuine businessman and you lodge in N1 billion there is nothing wrong with that but if you have N5,000 and all of a sudden, you brought  N10 million, we would like to know.

    “The CBN in collaboration with the National Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) would like to know the source of that money and that we are doing very religiously.”

  • Naira won’t be devalued further – CBN Governor

    Naira won’t be devalued further – CBN Governor

    The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, on Friday ruled out the possibility of the Federal Government further devaluing or adjusting the Naira.

    He spoke with State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    According to him, the government would now rather focus improving and deepening the foreign exchange market by improving supply of foreign exchange into the market.

    “There has been a lot of talk on whether or not we want to depreciate our currency again. The truth is that we had adjusted the currency by depreciating it from N155 to N197 in February this year.
    There is no intention to depreciate or adjust the currency any longer.

    “The President has been very clear on this The Vice President has been very clear on this and let me further reiterate our position at the Central Bank of Nigeria that we are not considering any further depreciation of the currency.

    “What we are trying to concentrate on right now is how to improve and deepen the foreign exchange market by improving supply of foreign exchange into the market,” he said.

    To do so, he said that the government will try to encourage people to export and earn export proceeds which should be use to import whatever they need to import.

    However, he said that the government will also concentrate on how to reduce the import of items that can be produced in the country.

    Speaking further, he said: “So that is our focus. I’m saying and very soon the CBN will be launching a campaign called PAVE, which means ‘Produce locally, add value  and export your product and earn your foreign exchange  for your imports’ because this is the only way we can support the efforts of CBN in intervening and providing foreign exchange in the market to meet the import needs of our people.

    “It is very clear, what we need to do is reduce our propensity to import but we will not depreciate our currency. For now we will not,” he said.

    On the list of banned items, he said: “First of all the CBN does not have the power to ban the import of any item. What we have done is to exclude certain items that are imported into the country from obtaining foreign exchange from the Nigerian foreign exchange market.

    “Yes it is also true we held a stakeholders’ meeting with the organized private sector and prominent and leading private sector stakeholder were at that meeting. It was not meant for the press.

    The purpose of that meeting was to engage the private sector to make the private sector understand that government realizes that they are engine of growth and we also used the opportunity to explain to them the basis and purpose of those policies that we have introduced and at the end of that meeting they were very happy, they saw our position and indeed at the end of that meeting some of them in fact  provided us with the names of some items that should be included in the list that should be excluded from foreign exchange.

    “And I must confess that at this stage given the determination of some of the organized sectors to say that yes, they produce these items and that we should exclude those items from foreign exchange we are reviewing that list and we may in due course include more items products that can be produced in Nigeria in the list of items that will be excluded from foreign exchange in the Nigerian foreign exchange market,” he stated

  • CBN maintains BVN deadline

    CBN maintains BVN deadline

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday called on all bank customers, who are yet to register for their Bank Verification Number (BVN) to do so before the expiration of the deadline.
    With just  six days to the October deadline set by the apex bank, it said it will no longer extend the deadline after the October date.

    The BVN exercise which had been on for over six months initially ended on July 30th, 2015 but was extended by an additional three months following calls from many bank customers who could not register within the period.

    Appealing to those not yet captured under the scheme to ensure they don’t miss out on the re-scheduled deadline, the apex bank said there is no need for people to wait until the last day before they go for the registration.

    Hajia Khadija Kasim, Deputy Director, Consumer Protection Department, while addressing stakeholders at a one-day CBN sensitisation fair in Ibadan, said the BVN coupled with the cashless policy will go a long way to help the apex bank and other banks in the country tackle the issue of money laundering in the country.

    “The initial deadline was June 30th before we extended it to end of October. By now we expect all Nigerians to go before the expiration date and get their Bank Verification Number. Please Nigerians, come out and ensure that within the few days left for the registration, you are registered for the exercise, she said.

    Explaining how the cashless policy and biometric registration will help check money laundering and fraudulent transactions in the banking sector, the deputy director assures that the two policies which goes hand-in-hand will help make the identity of money launders  and or fraud perpetrators easier to nab.

    “You will see some interrelationship between our cashless policy and the need for us to have our bio-metrics. When you are now registered as a bank customer and your details are there, it will be very difficult for somebody to use that account for any fraudulent activities.
    “So, if any fraudulent activities take place there, we will be able to trace the owner of the account. The situation where we have faceless people carrying out money laundering or fraudulent transactions will be reduced to the barest minimal”, the deputy director explained.

    Commending the cashless policy which has gone full scale all over the country, the deputy director, said people are now getting well enlightened on the need not to carry cash about, but using electronic platforms to do their business transactions anywhere within and around the country.
    She said: “we started the cashless policy in areas that have a large volume of money transaction, but now it has been extended to all over the country and our people are now getting better enlightened by the day” adding that the CBN fair organised for the stakeholders is part of the efforts of the apex bank to educate and enlighten members of the public on the activities of the apex bank.

    The event which held at the Jogor centre Ibadan had in attendance farmers, government officials, representatives and members of different cooperative societies, deposit money bankers, micro-finance operators, physically challenged people who are willing to start Small and Medium Scales business, SMEs operators, representatives of the student community and the general public.
    Policy issues bothering payment system vision (PSV 2020), mobile payments, agent banking, E-payment incentive schemes, BVN and cashless Nigeria were discussed among by resource persons from the different department of the apex bank while the attendees also had their questions answered.

    In a presentation entitled “Payments System: Cashless Nigeria and Consumer Protection”, another official of the CBN, Mr. Caleb Orji disclosed that the apex Bank would soon come up with initiatives for the visibly impaired persons to enable them operate their bank accounts effectively.
    In another presentation on Rights and Duties of Bank Customers, another CBN official, Mr. Damola Atanda warned Nigerians to be safety conscious in the handling of their bank documents, including the ATM cards since, according to him, “unscrupulous people have started using other peoples accounts to perpetrate fraudulent activities”.

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  • Buhari sued over AMCON board

    Buhari sued over AMCON board

    Activist-lawyer Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa has filed a suit against President Muhammadu Buhari over for appointing the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) board without recourse to the Senate.
    He said the appointments, made on August 19, was in clear violation of the relevant statute setting up the agency.
    He referred to Section 10(1) (C) of the AMCON Act 2010 which provides that the board, consisting of three executive directors nominated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in consultation with the Minister of Finance, must be appointed subject to Senate confirmation.
    Adegboruwa is seeking a declaration that the President cannot appoint anyone as Executive Director of AMCON without complying with Section 10(1)C of the AMCON Act 2010.
    He prays the court to hold that the appointments, having been made without complying with the Section, is illegal, unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect whatsoever.
    The lawyer is asking for an order “nullifying, annulling, voiding, cancelling and invalidating the appointment of the Executive Directors of AMCON by the President.”
    Adegboruwa is also seeking to obtain an order of perpetual injunction restraining the persons purportedly appointed by the President from functioning or further parading themselves as AMCON’s Executive Directors.
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  • I owe no bank N122m, says Dabiri-Erewa

    I owe no bank N122m, says Dabiri-Erewa

    The immediate past Chairperson of the House of Representatives Committee on the Diaspora, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, yesterday said she does not owe any bank N122million.

    She said she has no business investment in Thriller Endeavour not to talk of the N122million debt credited to the company.

    Dabiri-Erewa, who made the clarifications in a statement last night, said: “I owe nobody any money, not even myself.”

    The statement reads: “I was thoroughly embarrassed to see my picture on the front page of a newspaper that Thriller Endeavor Company, claiming me as a director, owes about N100million to Diamond Bank.

    [quote font_size=”18″ color=”#f2f2f2″ bgcolor=”#2d5945″ arrow=”yes” align=”right”]I know nothing about the said company, Thriller Endeavor, or its activities, as mentioned in the publication.[/quote]

    “If the company claims I am a director in the said bank, then it has definitely done so without my knowledge and without my permission.

    “If this is the case it’s a case of fraud and will have to be brought to the attention of relevant security agencies, the bank in question, and the Central Bank of Nigeria.

    “I once again state categorically that the company (Thriller Endeavour) is not known to me.

    “As a very contented person, I owe nobody any money, not even myself.”

  • Forex: CBN moves against importers of rice, cement

    Forex: CBN moves against importers of rice, cement

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that importers of rice, cement and other products will no longer have access to Foreign Exchange from the CBN, Banks and Bureau De Change for such importation.

    The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, who disclosed this at a news conference on Wednesday in Abuja, said the measure would prevent further depletion of the country’s foreign reserve.

    He said the country was spending huge amount to import things that could be produced locally.

    Emefiele said the apex bank would not continue to support the importation of such items through the use of the hard earned foreign exchange.

    Some of the products include margarine, palm kernel, palm oil products, meat and processed meat products, vegetables, private airplanes and jets, Indian incense, tinned fish, galvanised steel sheet, roofing sheet and furniture.

    “Importers who may want to continue importing these goods would have to sort their foreign exchange from their own private sources.

    “The CBN will continue to be vigilant around this policy, keep reviewing the list of items as it becomes comfortable that these items can be produced locally if we apply ourselves sufficiently.

    “This policy change is in line with the believe that Nigeria cannot attain its true potentials by simply importing everything into the country.

    “We have to decide what we really want for our country and I believe that the time is now for that deep and honest conversation,’’ he said, adding that in spite of relative positive GDP growth over the past seven years, there was no corresponding reduction in unemployment and poverty.

    He said bank’s analyses of the situation had compelled it to put to a stop forex access to some of these goods to encourage local production and consumption for economic development.

    The CBN chief also said that the Federal Government was spending about N1.3 trillion on the average annually to import rice, fish, sugar and wheat.
    “Why should we continue importing rice into Nigeria when vast amount of paddy rice produced by local farmers across rice belts are being wasted and ignored.
    “What will it take for these importers to stop importation and go into processing this locally produced rice.

    “Why are they not utilising large expands of arable lands for cultivation instead of importing rice into the country,’’ he said.

    Emefiele said that Nigeria had been creating jobs for other countries, while importing rice into the country.

    He said it was unfortunate that sardines, tooth picks, among others, were imported into the country.

    Emefele said the apex bank had no power to ban the importation of the items, but noted that it would work hard to ensure support for local production.

    He said local production would reduce poverty, unemployment and pressure on the reserve. “I believe that the current situation we found ourselves affords us a unique opportunity to embrace self sufficiency in Nigeria.
    “We should also reduce our appetite for everything and anything foreign, conserve reserve and create jobs at home for our people.

    “With full complement of the bank management, we would continue to look for areas which the bank can play a catalytic financial role to achieve the goal in the near future,’’ he said.

    On lifting of ban on importation of textiles and furniture by the Nigeria Customs, he said CBN would not provide foreign exchange for people that would want to import such products.

  • ‘Block all leakages in the system’

    ‘Block all leakages in the system’

    Mr. Walter Ahrey, a former Director of Strategy and Performance at the Central Bank of Nigeria, also served as the Deputy Coordinator for the Financial System Strategy 2020 (FSS2020). In this interview with Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf, he proffers useful tips on how the incoming government can turnaround the economy. Excerpts:

    What fiscal, monetary policy and economic policy tools would be preferred by the incoming government?

    Well, for me, it’s common sense economics. If you are building revenue, the first thing to look at is your cost. You have to look at the areas of leakages and waste to be able to cut down the cost. Secondly, don’t just have a budget with numbers alone. Our budget should be such that would be investment-oriented. We have to invest in the right infrastructure, build the right capacity and have the right institutions that would promote growth.

    The next thing is the diversification of your income. You must have diversification. We must have diversification with a sense of purpose. We should be able to invest in the real sector of the economy. We must be seen to be promoting business activity nationwide. There have to be concerted efforts towards building our revenue base. The best of investors are those in the bottom of the pyramid.

    To what extent should the incoming administration devalue the currency in its quest to increase government oil revenues and rebuild foreign currency reserves?

    If we are doing devaluation now because of indiscipline, let’s deal with that first. Just because you can just wish a change for devaluation of the naira is not good enough. To shore up the local currency, all hands must be deck. There is no magic about it. Good fiscal policy promotes discipline and effective budget implementation. It is not rocket science at all.

    Devaluation has to be based on the dynamics of the market. You have to wake up to the reality of what is causing it, you can’t do it artificially. What happens presently is that we don’t know the dynamics or what is the thing causing us to devalue the naira. We have to get that straightened out first of all.

    How to tackle the challenge of interest rate

    If all we are doing is artificially driving interest rate rather than managing inflation, that’s not good enough. So for me, we need to know what those things driving these headwinds in the economy. The biggest challenge for me is the cost of doing business, poor infrastructure and wastefulness generally.

    So until that discipline comes and for me, you must make people work for every naira they get. All the monetary policy tools will not work without the necessary political will on the part of government. It would be as if you are dealing with the symptoms and not the cost of the problem in the first place. At the moment, government expenditure is way too high. There is low level of productivity, high risk, issue of poor credit administration. If the cost of doing business is humongous and it is further compounded with wrong tax and the investing public whether in the public or organised private sector is not productive, government borrows and allows others to borrow and there is default from both ends, things won’t work.

    We must encourage a system where the organised private sector and the public institutions have the same kind of values, shared vision. That way, things can get better.

    Cost-cutting measures inevitable

    As I said on cutting cost, we must know how much is coming in and how much we have to spend. Government needs to be run like a private business. You can’t have five people doing the work of one person.

    Is borrowing an option?

    The traditional sources of borrowing are the international and external government debts instruments. You can equally borrow from outside sources such as international organisations that provide such avenue. But I would advise that as a government, you only borrow for what is essential. If what we are borrowing is to produce and repay, then it is okay. If you borrow only so that you can meet your bloated way of living, then it doesn’t make any economic sense. How much can you put to the price of comforts? You can’t really quantify such.

    If we must borrow, we must back it up with the ability to pay back. Of course, it is very easy for a government to borrow especially as a sovereign. As a sovereign, you are considered not to be broke. But such reassurance mustn’t provide the leeway for you to go a borrowing because you may incur a lot of deficit at the end and that’s not good for the economy.

    All revenue that comes to government must be efficiently utilised. Most successful countries live on taxes. You have your eye on your revenue, have your eyes on cost, tackle the over bloated civil service. There is no way you can have an efficient civil service or get the best as it is if you pay scant regard for meritocracy. Currently, nearly all our processes and policies are so crude. A lot of things need to be revolutionised with a desire to succeed ultimately.

    Need for new work template in the civil service

    Unlike in the organised private sector, work implementation is not purely performance-based in the civil service. In my considered view, if you have a performance-based service sector, have the right people for the right job in the right quantity and not that they just come and waste, that is the only way to achieve the desired efficiency in the system and if this percolates down, it is all well and good. To get a performance-based structure, it must start from the top. Now, we have a situation where even the president himself has a retinue of support people. It only happens in Nigeria. Such culture breeds a complacent and lazy system.

    Finally, to recap, we must have monetary and fiscal policy that work hand in glove. There must be accountability by all stakeholders in the payment system, in interest and exchange rate. People should be held accountable for making this happen. People should be held accountable for performance. If we are going to create a system that works, everybody should be held responsible for doing their job.