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By Amechi Ogbonna & Chinwendu Obienyi
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has urged the Federal Government to prioritise production and industrial sectors of the economy to enhance the country’s growth prospects and navigate through the challenges around diversification.
This was even as the apex bank revealed that its flagship Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) has changed Nigeria’s long-standing dependence on imported rice to become a rice-exporting country.
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, stated this in a keynote address at a seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors with the theme: “Policy Options for Economic Diversification: Thinking Outside the Crude Oil-Box” which held in Lagos at the weekend.
Emefiele who was represented by the Director, Corporate Communications Department, Osita Nwanisobi, noted that trade dislocations had aggravated supply shocks across regions, triggered unprecedented increases in prices of commodities, energy and foodstuff as inflationary pressures hit all-time highs across regions.
Whilst reiterating the importance of collaboration between the fiscal and monetary authorities, Emefiele said the productivity and industrial capacity of the economy must be given special attention.
“Nigeria has largely depended on the oil sector for revenue generation over the past four decades and the sustained decline in crude oil production has continued to negatively undermine the performance of the economy. Thus, there is the urgent need for a conscientious effort to diversify to other non-oil sectors.
“With our population growing by over 3 per cent per annum over the past seven years, against a less than steady growth in output since 2019, expanding the production and industrial capacity of the economy must be given special attention to ensure overall macroeconomic stability,” he said.
He further stated that the quest to build a more sophisticated economy anchored on agriculture, MSMEs, industrial and manufacturing concerns, has become the major component of monetary policy.
“As I have often said, it is important that we work to create an economy that will enable us feed ourselves, create jobs for our teeming youths and improve the standard of living of our people. With our population growing by over three per cent per annum over the past seven years, against a less-than-steady growth in output since 2019, expanding the production and industrial capacity of the economy must be given special attention to ensure overall macroeconomic stability.”
Highlighting the several measures the CBN had taken to diversify the nation’s economy away from oil, Emefiele revealed that the apex had supported non-oil sectors including agriculture, manufacturing, health care, education, power and aviation and other allied economic value chains.
“You may recall that our flagship Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) that heralded recent rice revolution in Nigeria has changed the long-standing dependence on imported rice as the country is not only depending on domestic production, but we have now become a rice-exporting country.
“Also, our intervention in the health sector, for example, has begun to reduce the healthcare tourism being sought outside the country which is helping to conserve our foreign exchange and improve our well-being.”
Emefiele added that the new 100-for-100 policy on production and productivity and the RT200 FX initiative will continue to yield quality results.
He said the apex bank’s efforts at engendering a digital economy, culminated in the setting up of the eNaira, Africa’s first Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in preparation for a seamless payment landscape in the future, given the potential benefits that will accrue to a digital economy.
Emefiele, thereafter, noted that whilst celebrating the successes achieved following the launch of the eNaira and the global recognition of the great job being done by the CBN, it must be acknowledged that the journey ahead requires cutting-edge innovation and out-of-the-box thinking to achieve the objectives of economic diversification.
