The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Emefiele

  • No forex concession for pilgrims, says Emefiele

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has debunked claims  that intending pilgrims have been granted concessionary foreign exchange rate for the 2016 pilgrimage exercise.

    Speaking to newsmen in Abuja yesterday, the Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said there was no preferential exchange rate of any sort to intending pilgrims.

    He clarified that the laid down procedure was followed in arriving at the exchange rate for the pilgrims. “What is obtainable is that every year, prior to the commencement of the pilgrimage, the commission (both Christian and Muslims) approach the CBN to agree on the exchange rate for the personal travel allowance (PTA) for that particular year, which, in this case is between $750 and $1,000 per pilgrim,” he explained.

    He further explained that the agreement to sell foreign exchange to the pilgrims at the rate of N197 to the Dollar was reached as far back as April 2016 at the prevailing rate then. According to the CBN Governor, this particular agreement is applicable to both intending Christian and Muslim pilgrims.

    Continuing, he disclosed that the pilgrims went ahead to make commitment through advanced payment through their various states pilgrims’ welfare boards for onward transmission to National Hajj Commission or Christian Pilgrims Commission as the case may be.

    “In this particular case, the market rate prevailed. Hence, with the commencement of the flexible exchange rate policy, market determined rates would continue to serve as the bases for foreign exchange for pilgrimage or any form of PTA in the country,” he noted.

    While likening the request for PTA for pilgrimage of tourism as a valid transaction, Emefiele asserted that the CBN as a responsible organisation could not renege on agreements or contracts entered into for whatever business transactions.

     

  • Emefiele donates 600 bags of rice to IDPs

    Emefiele donates 600 bags of rice to IDPs

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele has again donated six hundred bags of Nigeria made rice to  internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Bornu State.

    Emefiele, while presenting the food items, was full of empathy for the displaced persons, particularly those in the camps. He said people at the IDP camps have been deprived the opportunity to farm or work to earn a living with their families.

    He urged the relevant government agencies and humanitarian organisations not to relent in their efforts at nipping in the bud any humanitarian crisis.

    Emefiele used the opportunity to call on Nigerians to rally round the government at both the Federal and the affected States in restoring peace and resettling all displaced compatriots within the shortest possible time, so as to avert further crisis.

    He recalled with nostalgia the economic potentials and the natural endowments of this part of the country, “well known for its contributions to the economy in the area of agriculture, especially livestock, fish, hide and skin and even gum Arabic to the economy of the country.” And that “sadly, all these have been put on hold as a result of the insurgency.”

    Emefiele said that the “hard work of our gallant soldiers, the determination of the Federal Government and the indefatigable efforts of the government and people of Borno, who crave for true peace would not be in vain if economic activities are quickly restored in order to address the socio-economic challenges confronting the area as a result the insurgency.

  • How we’ll reduce economic pains – CBN

    How we’ll reduce economic pains – CBN

    The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has offered to coordinate activities with fiscal authorities to quickly mitigate the economic pains in the country, particularly inflation.

    Addressing journalists at the end of the bi-monthly MPC meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, said “the MPC underscored the imperative of coordinated action anchored by fiscal policy, to initiate recovery at the earliest possible time.”

    The MPC, Emefiele said, advocated for urgent diversification of the economy away from oil to manufacturing, agriculture and services and urged stakeholders to increase investment in growth stimulating and high employment elasticity sectors of the economy in order to lift the economy out of its current phase.

    The CBN governor said the MPC recognized the weak macroeconomic environment as reflected in the increasing inflationary pressure and contraction in real output growth.

    The committee, according to Emefiele, urged the Federal Government to fast-track the implementation of the 2016 budget in order to stimulate economic activity and generate employment.

     

  • Buhari, Emefiele, others for confab

    The industry is set to host its National Insurance Conference, which President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to declare open next week.

    Chairman, Planning Committee of the conference, Mrs Yetunde Ilori, at a briefing in Lagos, said the conference with theme: “Expanding national resources and infrastructure in challenging times”, will hold at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja, from July 10 -July 13, this year.

    She said the president has agreed to be at the event. The conference is also expected to be graced by Vice President Yemi Osibanjo, SAN, who would be the Special Guest at the Grand Ball; the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, as the Guest of honour, and the Commissioner for Insurance Mohammed Kari, as the chief host.

    According to her, two scholars, Dr. Biodun Adedipe and Kunle Elebute, would lead discussions.

    She noted that the paper on ‘Managing risks associated with non-oil resources exploration’, would be delivered by Ambassador Biodun Olorunfemi, former Director-General of Nigerian Mining Corporation, Jos, while a paper titled: ‘Insurance as a vehicle for agricultural development’ would be presented by Dr. Adelaja Adesina. He would be supported by Dr. Femi Coker, the National President, Farmers Association; Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh and Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele.

    Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola and Alhaji Bala Zakarya’u are among the speakers.

    Ilori said: “The theme of the conference could not have been more timely and apt than now, when the policy direction of the present administration is towards re-building a virile national economy through diversification and expansion of national and infrastructural resources. It has remained an irony that in spite of the nation’s past economic buoyancy, little premium was placed deliberately on building, maintaining and expanding national resources that would stand the test of time.

    “It is, therefore, quite commendable that the present administration has made economic diversification and infrastructural development its major policy thrust by committing so much money to critical sectors, such as works, roads and power,” she said.

     

  • Senate invites Adeosun, Emefiele over economy

    Senate invites Adeosun, Emefiele over economy

    • Senators seek measures to fix economy

    The Senate yesterday resolved to invite the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, to brief it on the state of the economy.

    The invitation followed the adoption of a motion on “urgent need to address present economic state of the nation”.

    Senator Bassey Albert Akpan (Akwa Ibom North East), who sponsored the motion, said the motion was informed by last week’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) release on the nation’s economic scorecard for the first quarter of this year for Gross Domestic Product (GDP), inflation and unemployment.

    He observed that the report showed that the economy plunged into recession with a decline of 0.3 per cent year-on-year in real term, which is a drastic drop from 2.11 per cent in quarter four of last year’s GDP.

    He also observed that from the report, unemployment rate rose to 21.1 per cent from 10.4 per cent in the last quarter of last year.

    According to him, unemployment also increased to 19.1 per cent from 18.7 per cent in the same period while inflation rate rose from 9.6 per cent in January this year to 13.8 per cent in April this year with attendant increase in prices of basic food commodities and services in the country.

    Akpan said he was worried that the declining GDP and unemployment, besides the high inflation rate, clearly showed that economic policies “are not achieving desired impact and requires an urgent review to avoid further plunge in our economy”.

    The lawmaker is worried that the current economic contraction is the first major drastic slump since June, 2004, which, according to the CBN, is a 12-year-low when the World Bank’s position is a 21-year-low.

    He recalled that the CBN, had in March deployed a contracting monetary policy increasing bench mark interest rate from 11per cent and cash reserve ratio from 20per cent to 22.5 per cent.

    “The question is why contracting monetary policy instead of expansionary monetary policy of boosting economic activities at such a critical time as this,” he said.

    Akpan said he was deeply concerned that the continued complacency of the current state of the economy, if allowed unchecked, will set the tone for a full blown economic recession by the end of June as already confirmed by the CBN in its last Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

  • Emefiele hosts Central Bank governors

    Emefiele hosts Central Bank governors

    Central bank of Nigeria (cbn) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, yesterday, began the hosting of African Central Bank governors across in Abuja.

    They are to discuss the effects of the shocks from the global economy on financial systems across the continent.

    As Co-Chair of Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Consultative Group of the Financial Stability Board (FSB),  Emefiele, alongside the Governor of the Reserve Bank of South Africa,  Lesetja Kganyago, is hosting the meeting at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja to find lasting, effective and common solutions that can be applied to African financial systems.

    The group will also be focusing on finding country-specific solutions that best suit individual African countries.

    In the aftermath of sharp drop in commodity prices, which is the main export and foreign exchange earner of most African countries, many financial systems across the world are still grappling with the adverse effects of these shocks.

    In attendance are the Governor’s of the Central Banks of Ghana, Lesotho, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and many others.

  • Lawyers condemn legal action against Emefiele

    Lawyers condemn legal action against Emefiele

    A group of lawyers under the aegis of Progressive Lawyers Forum (PLF) yesterday condemned a suit instituted by 10 constitutional lawyers against Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Mr. Godwin Emefiele for money laundering and other offences.

    A statement issued yesterday by its leaders, Andrew Idachaba, Dickson H. Irabor and Dr. Nasiru Jikantoro, described the legal action against the CBN governor as a distraction and a project that would not yield any positive result.

    The statement said: “We view the legal action against the CBN governor was a distraction and we believe it is a project that is bound to fail and it will die on arrival, simply because they have no case to justify their action.”

    According to the forum, those that filed the legal action were sponsored by some elements that were not at ease with the rising Emefiele’s rising profile.

    The lawyers, who said although they were not out to defend the governor, noted that on assumption of office, he set out his agenda for economic policy and growth.

    The CBN governor, the forum added, has continued to pursue the agenda diligently.

    The statement added: “Today, in our history as a nation, many of our entrepreneurs lack the confidence to display Made-in-Nigeria goods because of the ways and manners the elite have deliberately substituted local products for foreign commodities and yet, we cast blames on individuals for the situations we can all stand and unite to defend.

    “It is also public knowledge how this importation has subverted our primary raw materials and thereby putting pressure on the Naira against foreign exchange by importing the secondary produce from the same materials that they took from us.

    “In the face of this short-changing, importation and arbitrary tax policies on small businesses, which daily defined our status as a nation, no group or individual has taken responsibility on why our actions and policies do not reflect our paper policy direction. What we think now is that our economic woes are the handiwork of Emefiele and all blames must be heaped on him and, therefore, he must go along with the economic crisis.

    “For instance, in spite of all positive indication and phenomenal height for economy growth, especially in the oil sector, the importation of refined petroleum products consumes 35 per cent of our annual import bill and when compared, it is very obvious that very insignificant interest was made from this God-given resources, particularly as it relates to infrastructural development of this same industry, which we depend on for economic sustainability.”

    It added: “We must put these economic blame-games on hold and begin to work collectively as a nation with relevant stakeholders to positively reverse this hash economic reality.

    “Emefiele has indeed contributed a lot to the management of our economy through various CBN economic sustainability programmes since he assumed office and in the past few months, he has alerted the nation on some critical issues and measures to take and thus proven the critique of his leadership wrong when the Eighth Senate backed up his economic policies.

    “The obviously excited senators affirmed to Nigerians then that, after careful consideration and observation through the CBN policies under Emefiele, the upper legislative house members were in support of these policies, which are aimed at increasing the local production, creating jobs, safeguarding our commonwealth and expanding economic opportunities and growth in Nigeria.

    “We strongly believed that changing the CBN governor at this particular point in time will not be a solution to the economic crisis bedevilling the nation.

    “The CBN governor is on track. He is a consummate technocrat, whose pedigree cannot be questioned and we believe he has a lot to contribute to the economic recovery of the nation. As such, all stakeholders in the economic sector and Nigerians should rally round him to support the present government’s quest to diversify the nation’s economy.”

  • CBN: EMEFIELE DOES NOT USE PRIVATE JETS

    CBN: EMEFIELE DOES NOT USE PRIVATE JETS

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has refuted reports that its governor, Godwin Emefiele, travelled in a private jet to bury his mother.

    A statement from the apex bank’s Acting Director of Communications, Isaac Okoroafor, said: “Mr. Emefiele and his family flew a commercial Arik flight from Lagos to Benin for their mother’s burial.”

    Okoroafor further explained: “In 2015, in response to the economic downturn and cost-cutting stance of government, Mr. Emefiele ordered the stoppage of the use of chartered flights by the bank.

    “Since then, neither Mr. Emefiele nor any of the Deputy Governors has used the services of private chartered flights and the CBN has not paid a kobo for private jet services.”

    He added the governor and other principal officers of the CBN “have religiously maintained the modest disposition of using regular flights, including doing several trips by road to and from different parts of the country.”

    Okoroafor said no private jet was used by Emefiele, his immediate family or other principal officers of the bank during the burial of Emefiele’s mother.

    For several years in the past, the CBN, Okoroafor said, used private and official chartered flights in making urgent travels to meet needs in remote, not-easily- accessible locations or in cases where timing might be critical to matters of urgent national importance.

    This practice he pointed out was in place long before Emefiele took over.

    “In fact it is on record that the past two CBN governors actively used chartered private jet services to meet urgent national assignments.”

    Okoroafor added that in recognition of this critical need in its smooth operations, the CBN had in the 1990s acquired a dedicated jet for this purpose and urgent currency movement.

    He said it was, however, taken over by the military administration when there was a more urgent need for it at the State House.

    Thereafter, the CBN occasionally used the chartered services of private operators and those of the Presidential Fleet when available, both of which were paid for, he added.

    “All accounts still point to the fact that the Emefiele’s mother’s burial was a model in cost-cutting and an uncommon demonstration of his modest, made- in- Nigeria philosophy,” Okorafor said.

  • Forex crisis: Emefiele reshuffles key directors

    Forex crisis: Emefiele reshuffles key directors

    Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele has reassigned some of his directors in apparent response to the current foreign exchange (forex) crisis and the need to save the naira.

    Under the new dispensation, Dr. Alvan Ikoku becomes Director for the Trade and Exchange Department (TED), a department said to be very critical to the management of the foreign exchange market and requires someone the governor could trust.

    Ikoku takes over from Olasukanmi Gbadamosi, who is now Director, Legal Department.

    Similarly, Edward Adamu was appointed Director of Human Resources while Chizoba Mojekwu who previously held the position, will henceforth oversee the Capacity Development Department and the International Training Institute (ITI) Learning Centre.

    The Director of Corporate Communications, Ibrahim Mu’azu, has already been moved to the Strategy Management Department (SMD).

    No replacement has been announced but observers expect someone with deep understanding and experience in media management and strategic communications to fill the vacuum.

    The exercise, seen by many familiar with the workings of the apex bank as long overdue because of the criticisms against its handling of the ongoing forex crisis, which saw the naira trading close to N400 to dollar before making a marginal rebound.

     

  • Govt must diversify economy, says Emefiele

    Govt must diversify economy, says Emefiele

    Mr Godwin Emefiele, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), yesterday reiterated the need for the Federal Government to diversify its economic dependence from oil to the non-oil sectors.

    He said this at the opening of the 21st Seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors in Ibadan.

    “The rate of oil today at below $35 underscores the harsh reality that Nigeria is left with no choice but to diversify our economy away from oil, and into agriculture, manufacturing, services and non-oil sectors,’’ he said.

    Emefiele said the dwindling oil revenue provides the nation a painful but indispensable opportunity to look inwards in a bid to trigger economic growth.

    He urged Nigerians to begin to appreciate locally manufactured goods such as fabrics, saying that patronising such goods would make local industries thrive and boost economy.