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Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) governor Godwin Emefiele gives a press conference on the naira devaluation during a media briefing in Abuja on June 15, 2016. Nigeria’s central bank said today it will ease currency controls and allow the naira to devalue as the country works to attract investment amid a worsening economic outlook. Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Godwin Emefiele said in a televised speech from Abuja that the currency market will be “purely market driven”. / AFP / PHILIP OJISUA (Photo credit should read PHILIP OJISUA/AFP/Getty Images)
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed that it will continue to back the agriculture and industrial sectors to thrive as veritable tools for Nigeria’s economic transformation.
The apex bank, through its Acting Director, Corporate Affairs Communications, Mr. Nwanisobi Osita restated its commitment towards unlocking the country’s agro-industrial potentials and transforming the economy.
Osita was speaking at a one-day interactive session with stakeholders organised by the CBN in collaboration with Labour Unions in Lokoja, Kogi State.
He harped on the need for Nigeria to boost her export capacities, while bemoaning that the country continues to thrive on the importation of consumables despite her agricultural potentials.
This, he said, formed the basis for the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), a financial intervention targeted at enhancing local production of agro-commodities.
“There must be a limit to the importation of goods. We can grow tomatoes, rice, wheat, cotton and other consumable and CBN will continue to provide finance for farmers to grow those commodities and create jobs for Nigerians,” he said.
According to Osita, the CBN’s 5-year policy thrust was targeted at achieving double-digit growth for the economy. CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele had in June last year unveiled the bank’s policy document (2019 – 2014) to facilitate the country’s economic growth.
The policy thrust, Osita said, seeks to establish a stable microeconomic environment and achieve financial stability, low inflation, increase in export, efficient payment system, among others.
He added the CBN was making concerted efforts to achieve a double-digit economic growth where the inflation rate would be a single digit.
Osita further stated that the apex bank would also look at issues of power, industries and the nation’s foreign reserve.
The positives from the bank’s intervention will help decrease the level of unemployment among youths, as well the underemployment rate currently at 60 percent, he said.
SOURCE: AGRONIGERIA