Business

eNaira and Emefiele’s many reforms, by Khalifa Mahmood

Published

3 years ago

November 11, 2021

The recent launch of the Central Bank Digital Currency (eNaira) didn’t come to many Nigerians who have been following the unparalleled feats of the Central Bank Governor, Chief Godwin Emefiele, with keen attention as a surprise.

By this singular feat of Emefiele’s CBN, Nigeria has become the first country in Africa, and one of the first in the world to introduce a digital currency to its citizens. This is no small achievement, particularly as the country, like other parts of the world, is coming out of COVID-19 induced recession.

This breakthrough, like many others before it in Nigeria’s financial ecosystem, is a block chain technology that will add a whopping $2.9 trillion (N1.189 trillion) every year to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

What this simply means is that: the country’s GDP will be raised by $29 billion in the next 10 years. This was aptly captured by President Muhammadu Buhari during the launch of the national digital currency midwifed by Emefiele’s CBN.

“Alongside digital innovations, CBDCs can foster economic growth through better economic activities. Indeed, some estimates indicate that the adoption of CBDC and its underlying technology, called block chain, can increase Nigeria’s GDP by US$29billion over the next 10 years,” the president proudly announced.

The eNaira, will among others, help increase remittances, foster cross border trade, improve financial inclusion, make Monetary Policy more effective, and enable the government to send direct payments to citizens eligible for specific welfare programmes.

At the launching, the CBN governor also unveiled a new financial instrument christened “The 100 for 100 PPP – Policy on Production and Productivity” to reduce the nation’s overdependence on imports.

He said the instrument “will be anchored in our Development Finance Department under my direct supervision.”

“Under this policy, the CBN will advertise, screen, scrutinize and financially support 100 targeted private sector companies in 100 days, beginning from 01 November 2021, and rolling over every 100 days with a new set of 100 companies, whose names will be published in National Dailies for Nigerians to verify and confirm.

“The purpose of this instrument is to take further steps to reverse our over reliance on imports,” the CBN governor said.

Chief Emefiele said working through banks, the financial instrument would be available to their customers in critical areas to boost the production and productivity, with a view to immediately transforming and jumpstarting the productive base of the economy.

“After these 100 projects by companies in the first 100 days from November 1, we will take the next 100 companies/projects for another 100 days beginning February 1, 2022, and then another 100 companies for another 100 days beginning from May 1, 2022.

“We believe that if we target and support the right companies and projects, we will see a significant, 14 measurable and verifiable increase in local production and productivity, reduction in certain imports, increase in non-oil exports, and improvements in the FX-generating capacity of the economy.

“This, in my view, is the best and most sustainable way to address the Naira’s value –whether in hard currency or digital eNaira – through production, production and more production,” Chief Emefiele explained.

Financial analysts and economists have, for years, realized the tremendous reforms the CBN governor brought to the country’s financial and economic sectors through various programmes and policies, with eNaira being the latest.

In an attempt to save the naira, for instance, the CBN has issued at least 21 policies and directives between September 2020 and September 2021.

In August 2020, Emefiele resolved to go tough on exporters who were guilty of forex non-repatriation. This was another effort to tackle the prevalent forex crisis in the country by increasing forex liquidity. The CBN ordered banks to submit the names, addresses, and Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) of all the exporters who had failed to repatriate their export proceeds, for necessary ‘action’.

When faced with rising cases of forex hoarding and funding of militant and terrorist groups, Emefiele swooped to action by taking deliberate and albeit drastic policies in arresting those maladies with catastrophic effects on the security architecture of the country.

After the CBN’s monetary policy rate (MPR) meeting in July 2021,Chief Emefiele braved the odds and banned Bureau De Change (BDC) operators from accessing forex, and also said some them have become conduit for illegal financial flows working with corrupt people to conduct money laundering in Nigeria.

“They have turned themselves away from their objectives. They are now agents that facilitate graft and corruption in the country. We cannot continue with the bad practices that are happening at the BDC market,” the CBN chief said.

He said the depreciating value of the national currency was partly because of prevailing ownership of several BDCs by the same promoters to procure multiple forex from the central bank.

“Several international organizations, embassies patronise BDC through illegal forex dealers to fund their institutions. We will deal ruthlessly with Nigerian Banks that deal with illegal BDCs and we will report foreign organisations patronising them,” he said.

It is a truism that not all BDC operators are engaged in subterranean operations in their course of doing their businesses. But the fact remains that some enemies of Nigeria are using the unofficial forex windows to perpetrate crimes against the country.

The apex bank, as part of the operation, traced and blocked billions of naira to businesses belonging to persons in banks in a series of ‘post no debit letters.

The CBN governor did not stop there. Despite the political repercussions, the CBN in March 2021, froze 193 corporate and individual bank accounts over allegations of suspicious forex transactions. This was done after 138 accounts were frozen earlier in February.

Not done yet, in April 2021, the CBN investigated and engineered the arrest and arraignment of over 400 persons across the country in an ongoing nationwide crackdown on financiers of Boko Haram and other criminal groups in Nigeria.

All these are Emefiele’s continuous efforts in tackling terrorism and terrorist financing across the country. This alone will hasten the defeat of terrorists as they are starved of funds, hardware, food, weapons and everything.

While working tirelessly to ensure physical security, the CBN under Emefiele is equally bent on reducing unemployment, particularly among the youths.

Just recently, the CBN developed the Tertiary Institutions Entrepreneurship Scheme (TIES), in partnership with Nigerian polytechnics and universities to harness the potential of graduate entrepreneurs (gradpreneurs) in the country.

The goal of the TIES is to enhance access to finance to undergraduates and graduates of polytechnics and universities in Nigeria with innovative entrepreneurial and technological ideas.

Under this policy, the CBN will offer N500 million grant to graduates, undergraduates with the best entrepreneurship pitch across the tertiary institutions.

Emefiele’s revolution has touched not only those at the fiscal sectors, but even the peasant farmers at the downtrodden ladder. Despite the coronavirus pandemic that precipitated global lockdown, Nigeria didn’t suffer food shortage. This is thanks to Emefiele’s agro-economic intervention.

The CBN governor principally achieved this through the Anchor Borrowers Programme(ABP) launched by President Buhari in 2014.

It is public knowledge that the ABP has empowered rice farmers and processors in the country and resulted in a significant boost in rice production in the country. Official data shows that the ABP has added six million metric tons of rice supply in the country annually and created nearly six million direct jobs in a year.

Official statistics from the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) reveals that about two million direct jobs are created every cropping season. And Nigeria has three cropping seasons in a year, all of them fully funded by the CBN. These jobs are restricted to only the production value chain of rice, and not include millions of other jobs created in the processing, packaging, transport, marketing sectors of the rice ecosystem.

Courtesy Emefiele’s reforms, over 100 integrated rice millers are currently working across the country, providing thousands direct and indirect jobs. This Is not to mention over 50 fertilizer plants, hiring thousands and counting.

The ABP has so far saved Nigeria over N369 billion per annum, while the country consumes N1.5 billion worth of rice every day. This breakthrough has saved the country the challenge of sourcing forex or devaluing our currency to finance this monstrous import wage bill.

There is no gainsaying repeating the fact that Emefiele is playing a crucially unprecedented role that is shaping almost all the spheres of our human lives, irrespective of our economic status and whether we live in cities or in villages.

Mahmood writes from Katsina

Business

Businesses count losses amid power outage in Bauchi, Gombe, and Jigawa

Published

4 weeks ago

October 28, 2024

Matthew Eloyi

Business owners in Bauchi, Gombe and Jigawa are recording losses due to week-long blackout ocassioned by vandalism of the power transmission line in parts of northern Nigeria.

The sudden disruption in electricity supply in the past days, also affected essential services such as water, sanitation, street lighting and healthcare delivery as most hospitals have been operating without light.

Some of the affected businesses including shop keepers, millers and artisans, who spoke while reacting to a survey by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), described the situation as “pathetic”.

The survey examined the perennial collapse of national grid and the need for alternative power supply in the country.

Rice millers in Gombe had decried the impact of the erratic power supply on their businesses.

A Miller, Musa Arab, at Nassarawo Industrial Layout in Gombe, said the trend was crippling their operations as they relied on electricity supply from the grid to process paddy.

He said the mills were not operational power outage as they could not afford exorbitant pump prices of petrol or diesel to run their machines.

This, he said, reduced the volume of rice supply to the market and posed serious challenge to food security.

“We must invest in power because it is the biggest determining factor for industries to thrive.

“I have over 20 workers in my mill, and we have 100 mini rice mills here, so you can imagine those who have no jobs for the past 10 days.

“Government must go tough on those responsible for the perennial grid collapse because some persons may be benefitting from it,” he said.

Also, Yusuf Ibrahim said the situation might trigger the already fragile inflation, as prices of local varieties would shot up ocassioned by the diminish supply.

He said that some had jerked up their charges to cover the expenses on diesel thereby affecting rice prices.

A check by NAN at the Gombe Main market showed that a 100 kilogramme of rice was sold for between N120,000 and N160,000, as against N110,000 and N150,000, before the blackout.

Mr Usman Sani, a rice dealer, attributed the hike in price to low supply of the produce to the market in spite of the number harvest recorded this cropping season.

He said the prices had decreased slightly at the onset of the harvest, however, it showed sprawling increase due to power outage.

“The price of rice is already dropping as a result of harvest but the trend reverse since the blackout in the past days “ he said.

Ugochukwu Daniel, a bartender in Bauchi, decried the epileptic power supply in the country, adding that lack of durable energy supply would retard Nigeria’s quest to attain social and economic greatness.

Daniel said that she spent much on fuel to run power generator for refrigrator and lightening the beer parlour, to enable her to keep the business running.

He said that businesses could only thrive in an enabling environment with stable electricity supply, to enhance wealth creation and reduce poverty among Nigerians.

“My trade is about chill drinks and it survives on electricity to operate otherwise you will out of bussiness.

“Without electricity there is nothing you can do, and not only business but about everything. We depend on it,” he said.

Similarly, Samuel Adamu, said the persistent power outage had forced him to patronised charcoal for ironing clothes in spite of its high cost and cumbersome processes.

He said that most cleaners in the area had resorted to fabricated iron charcoal in spite of hike in its prices which suddenly jumped from N5,000 to N15,000.

Adamu said the situation also encouraged division of labour in laundry to cut cost and make some gains.

“Presently, I do wash the cloth, and engage someone for ironing. The charge is N300 per set as against N150”.

While advocated development of renewable energies to enhance power supply in the country, Adamu urged security agencies to entensify efforts towards electrical installations in the country.

In the same vein; Mr Muhammad Adamu, Chairman, Jigawa State House Assembly Commitee on Power and Energy, said the Jigawa Electricity Law 2024, made sound provisions to improve power generation and distribution in the state.

This, he said, was an offshoot of the devaluation brought about by the 5th alteration of the constitution, where removed power from the executive legislative list and to the concurrent list.

“It empowered the state houses of assembly to enact laws on power.

“The committee has also carefully pursued the bill and reviewed its structure and the promise it holds for the state power sector, infrastructure and the overall economy of the state.

“The new law will pave way for the establishment of Jigawa Electricity Commission, to regulate the state’s electricity market,” he said.

According to Adamu, the law will protect residents and investors in the energy sector through ensuring prepaid meter installation and possibility of recouping investor’s funds as well as address vandalism.

“The law will lead to provision of reliable, affordable and sustainable power, essential for development of all sectors of the economy, particularly in rural areas,” Adamu said.

“Vandalism will be over because we pay Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) money for powered supplies, but whenever there is problem of damages or broken down transformers, it is either the communities or individuals that pay for the repairs”.

Business

Mercedes urges delay of EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles

Published

1 month ago

October 21, 2024

Matthew Eloyi

Mercedes urges delay of EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles

The head of German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz, has called for the European Union to de-escalate the dispute with China over tariffs on electric cars.

“We need more free trade instead of new trade barriers.

“That is why it is important to find a solution that suits both the EU and China,” chief executive Ola Källenius told the Monday edition of Bild newspaper.

“The negotiations for this take time. In order not to jeopardise them, the EU should postpone the enforcement of the planned tariffs,’’ he said.

At the start of the month, a majority of EU countries paved the way for additional tariffs of up to 35.3 per cent on battery-powered electric vehicles imported from China.

Germany, however, voted against the measure amid concerns over retaliatory actions which could hurt the country’s giant car industry.

The European Commission had pressed for extra tariffs after an investigation accused Beijing of subsidising domestic electric car manufacturers, and thus distorting the market in the EU.

But whether the import tariffs would actually come into force at the beginning of November is still up to the commission.

The plans can still be dismissed if Brussels reaches a solution with China at the negotiating table.

Business

ACCI moves to promote business connections, balance work-life

Published

1 month ago

October 16, 2024

Matthew Eloyi

ACCI moves to promote business connections, balance work-life

The Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), is taking innovative steps to enhance professional relationships and promote a healthy work-life balance.

The President of ACCI, Dr Emeka Obegolu, said this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.

Obegolu said ACCI was committed to creating environments where professionals could connect beyond the confines of traditional boardrooms.

He said the upcoming “Business Meets Golf’’ Tournament epitomises this vision.

“Scheduled for Oct. 18 to Oct 19 at the IBB Golf Club, the tournament will gather industry leaders, top executives, and key decision-makers for a unique networking experience.

“This two-day event aims not only to strengthen business ties but also to foster partnerships that can drive economic growth.

“The ACCI’s initiative reistates the importance of maintaining a balance between professional achievement and personal well-being.

“By encouraging corporate cultures that prioritise relaxation and self-care, the Chamber acknowledges that such balance is vital for productivity and overall success,” he said.

According to Obegolu, the event will feature a range of activities designed to facilitate both business engagement and relaxation.

“Highlights include a Business-to-Business (B2B) cocktail on the first day, followed by the golf tournament and additional networking opportunities on the second day.

“The tournament will culminate in an awards ceremony recognising outstanding golfers among the participants.

“‘Business Meets Golf’ exemplifies our dedication to fostering innovative networking opportunities.

“We aim to create spaces for meaningful discussions that can lead to impactful collaborations,” Obegolu said.

The ACCI boss said in addition to promoting business connectivity, the council aimed to restate the importance of relaxation and a balanced lifestyle.

Obegolu said through events like this, the Chamber continued to play a pivotal role in supporting trade and industry in Nigeria while driving sustainable growth within the private sector.

He said to raise awareness about this landmark event, ACCI was partnering with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and Media Trust Limited, to ensure broad visibility and engagement from leading brands.