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By Chinwendu Obienyi
Amidst the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) efforts to generate $200 billion over the next three to five years through its RT 200 FX policy, some economic experts have expressed fears that its expectations might be shortchanged unless some grey policy areas are not addressed urgently.
The apex bank’s Governor, Godwin Emefiele, had launched the RT200 FX Programme in a bid to get $200 billion in FX repatriation over a 5- year timeline.
The programme, according to him, is targeted at five key anchors including Value-Adding Exports Facility, Non-Oil Commodities Expansion Facility, Non-Oil FX Rebate Scheme, Dedicated Non-Oil Export Terminal and Biannual Non-Oil Export Summit.
Furthermore, the CBN governor speaking at the Biannual Non-Oil Export Summit in Lagos last week, called on the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria Customs Service and Shipping companies to enable non-oil export with a dedicated route for easy processing of export goods.
He said the appeal had become more urgent for Nigeria to increase its foreign exchange earnings over the target period, urging for a coordinated effort by players in the export ecosystem to aid seamless export.
“We need those export proceeds badly. It is sad that because of the problem of finding an easier route for goods to be exported out of the country, Nigerian exporters prefer to transport by road or sometimes barges from Lagos to Accra or the Republic of Benin to export from there. Doing these we lose the opportunity to earn export proceeds. With the grossly untapped potentials of Nigeria, there is a strong need for us to work together to diversify our FX revenue earnings to the non-oil sector.” Emefiele said.
However, some experts who spoke during various forums in Lagos, noted that until the commodities ecosystem is deployed as a tool, standardization of the exports might be the challenging factor.
Speaking during a forum hosted by the Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange (LCFE), the Divisional Head, Agribusiness, Natural Resources and Project Development, Heritage Bank, Olugbenga Awe, noted that the Nigerian economy had been well diversified, going by statistics except through sources of forex.
Awe who spoke on “The Opportunities for financial Institutions in the CBN RT 200 FX Programme, stated that a commodity exchange was a risk management platform. According to him, the biggest challenge to exportation of non-oil products in Nigeria is standardisation to meet global demand.
He explained that the Nigerian non-oil products could boost forex earnings but the products must meet global standards.
“This is where commodities exchanges come in. Any product whose electronic receipt is traded on a commodities exchange must be of global standard. Banks are willing to support exporters provided they meet certain criteria, including history of performance, export volume and frequency, payment methods, products sourcing strategy and seasonality among others”, Awe said.
Ekpo, a professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom, said the programme would shore up foreign exchange in the short and medium term.
