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By Uche Usim, Abuja
From all indication, Mr Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of the Centarl Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is today seen by many as a captain sailing on tempestuous waters even after the encommiums he received in 2020 when he helped to reflate the Nigerian economy following the battering it got following the COVID-19 shock.
He assumed office as the 11th Central Bank of Nigeria CBN Governor on June 3, 2014; at a time crude oil prices were succumbing to global economic tremors and headwinds.
Resolute and focussed, Emefiele made it categorically clear that the falling crude oil prices would not deter him from operating a people-oriented monetary policy administration.
Against the odds, he unveiled a 10-point agenda to buoy his vision; against the backdrop of a 60% crash in crude oil revenue and a gape in the nation’s purse.
Being a largely mono economy with no window of escape, the oil crisis set off a chain of events that eventually tossed the country into a recession in 2016, the first time in a quarter of a century.
Amid these litany of challenges, Emefiele designed a bouquet of intervention programmes to build economic resilience to insulate the Nigerian economy from similar shocks in future.
This involved an aggressive push for economic diversification.
He also created products that would strengthen players in the Micro Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) ecosystem to stimulate growth and boost job creation.
Confronted with a limping fiscal wing with a narrow space to release money to catalyse the economy, he then ballooned the intervention programmes.
Currently, the CBN has 37 of such programmes strategically designed to fortify the economy and address the lingering issue of unemployment and poverty.
The schemes were designed and insulated from undue political interference to ensure they succeeded.
This firm stand on driving policies that won’t be hijacked by politicians makes him a reformer that is often misunderstood.
To him, the CBN is to act as a financial catalyst by targeting strategic sectors that could create jobs on a huge scale and reduce the country’s import bills.
In June 2015, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) excluded 43 hitherto imported goods from accessing foreign exchange at the Nigerian foreign exchange markets.
But some commentators with scant knowledge of the objectives tagged it corporate rascality and a veiled plot to run genuine importers out business.
Emefiele, who was undeterred by their dangerous display of ignorance, said there was no way the apex bank could sustain funding food imports for a population of over 200 million, when there is in-country capacity to grow the food items.
That was how the Anchor Borrower’s Programme (ABP), an intervention scheme aimed at solving the food insufficiency nightmare and creating massive employment, was born.
Other intervention programmes also came on stream to have a total coverage of the economy.
On his watch, the CBN has disbursed N25.6 billion under the N1 trillion Real Sector Facility to eight new real sector projects in manufacturing packaging, pharmaceuticals, plastic and cosmetic products.
Cumulative disbursements under the Real Sector Facility currently
stands at N2.56 trillion disbursed to 462 projects across the country, comprising 257 manufacturing, 95 agriculture, 97 services and 13 mining sector projects.
Under the 100 for 100 Policy on Production and Productivity (PPP), the Bank disbursed N13.81 billion to three projects in the manufacturing sector. This brings the cumulative disbursement under the facility to N173.31 billion, disbursed to 81 projects comprising 45 manufacturing, 23 agriculture, 5 healthcare, and 8 services sector
projects with an estimated 23,343 direct jobs created.
Under the Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility (NEMSF-2) for capital, and operational expenditure of distribution companies (Discos), the Bank disbursed N11.82 billion to ease liquidity constraints and support the recovery of legacy debt. Under the scheme so far, the Bank has disbursed a cumulative sum of N254.39 billion.
Emefiele recently disclosed that the Race to $200 billion in foreign exchange (FX) repatriation programme (RT200) of the bank has boosted repatriation of funds into the country by 40 per cent in 2022. In the first quarter of 2023, the country recorded $1.7 billion inflows due to the non-oil export initiative.
Emefiele also noted that the apex bank was monitoring some shipping companies aiding and abetting the smuggling of goods, warning that there were plans to sanction such companies by placing a post-no debit (PND) on the bank accounts.
Emefiele said: “Today, I am happy to note that the RT200 programme has made good progress in export proceeds since its establishment in February 2022.
“When we started between February and March, it was only $62 million, by the second quarter it had risen to about $600 million and by the third quarter it had risen to over $900 million.
“Available data shows that repatriation due to the programme increased by 40 per cent from $3 billion in 2021, to $5.6 billion at the end of 2022. The momentum for 2023 is equally showing strong numbers and impressive prospects.
“In the first quarter of 2023, a total of $1.7 billion was repatriated to the economy while about $790 million was sold at the investors and exporters’ (I&E) window year-to-date. The balance of the proceeds remained in the Export Domiciliary Accounts of exporters.
“Please note that proceeds that are not sold at the I&E window cannot and will not be eligible for rebate. So, we encourage those holding their export proceeds in their domiciliary accounts to take advantage of the rebate by selling at the I&E window.”
The CBN, on his watch, has consistently resisted the pressures to return to “staggering and undulating foreign exchange rate in relation to the naira due to pressures by speculators, bettors, round-trippers and rent-seekers.
Analysts say that exchange rate availability allows for planning and investment decisions.
However, with the twin-blight of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, which have disrupted global supply chains and shrunk food productivity, Emefiele is now being applauded as a visionary leader who saw tomorrow and prepared for it.
This is because many countries have been forced to limit export of food items to meet local demands, having recorded a shaky exit from COVID-19-induced recession and its concomitant shutdowns.
The unsavoury development puts any import-reliant country in dire straits as getting food supplies has become a tough order and obviously more expensive, with a heavy strain on foreign reserves.
So, in line with the Buhari administration’s mantra of growing what the nation consumes and consuming what it grows, the ABP has recorded progress in the local cultivation of over 10 crops, including rice, other grains and oil palm. Between January and February this year, N12.65 billion was disbursed to three agricultural projects under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, bringing the cumulative disbursement under the Programme to N1.09 trillion to over 4.6 million smallholder farmers cultivating or rearing 21 agricultural commodities on an approved 6.02 million hectares of farmland across the country.
Repayments stand at 52.39 per cent of total exposure and the Central Bank has continued to reiterate its commitment to its developmental mandate of stimulating access to finance for the real sector.
During the rampaging COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Emefiele led a private sector effort to provide some cushioning programmes. One of them was the Coalition against COVID-19 (CACOVID) chaired by Herbert Wigwe with donations of over N19.4 billion.
In February, former President Muhammadu Buhari commended that coalition for donating N12 billion for security equipment.
Also, as part of efforts to stimulate infrastructural development across the country, the Emefiele-led CBN, working with the fiscal authorities also established a N15 trillion infrastructure development company (Infraco).
Last year, Emefiele bagged the Forbes Best of Africa Lifetime Achievement Award for strictly regulating Nigerian banks and introduced far-reaching measures to stabilize the economy in spite of global economic challenges.
Indeed, Emefiele, having survived many banana peels and corporate bullets since assuming office, has remained resolute in driving a positive economic agenda.
Many have now seen the loaded benefits of the naira redesign policy after the initial pain.
It has deepened financial inclusion as many unbanked Nigerians have been brought into the formal banking ecosystem using an array of digital platforms like; internet banking, mobile banking, domestic card (AFRIGO), USSD, PSBS, POS, eNaira app and 1.4 million mobile banking agents spread across the country to attend to the informal sector and those in far-flung settlements.
As a country battling terrorism, banditry and other crimes, it is very important to run on modern banking templates that dwarfs cash usage because digital footprints are easier to trace, track and investigate.
Experts note that while the naira redesign project has loads of economic goodies, some sections of Nigerians, apparently those addicted to cash spending, unfortunately, have not considered the gains but have detonated the policy and tried to stir public objection.
Critics of the cashless policy have argued that it would further impoverish Nigerians and create unemployment in the financial value chain. But they lacked evidence to buttress their rejection.
It is not surprising that most of the objections to the central bank policies are by those who currently benefit from the rot in the system – politicians, and other corrupt public officials who take undue advantage of the opaque system of administration that does not allow for transparency in government business.
But just like the former Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige aptly noted, implementation of such a policy comes with challenges and resistance.
Ngige said: “They said it was about N3 trillion and they want to cut it down. Cutting it down is part of that cashless policy. Some of us that travel abroad, when you bring out cash, people would be staring at you as if you are coming from Mars, because they are not used to people bringing out cash.
“If you are bringing out huge cash abroad, you are either a drug peddler or you are not doing clean business. In fact, they regard anybody bringing out cash as somebody doing money laundering. Since the cashless policy commenced, there has been temporary relief we have gotten from banditry, from kidnapping and people asking for N50 million cash to release kidnapped victims.
“All those have abated. So, it is not a bad policy. It is the implementation; it should be done gradually. There is no way we would go back to the old way, where people carry N100 million cash and bring it into the market. Cash should be for low volume and low value transactions.”
However, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has pushed for both the old and new naira notes to operate side by side.
