Mr Phillips Oduoza, the Group Managing Director, United Bank for Africa (UBA), says the Nigerian economy remains robust with the nation’s non-oil sector picking up significantly.
Oduoza, who is also the bank’s Chief Executive Officer, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday.
“If you also look at it, the economy is such that you have non-oil proceeds picking up significantly.
“ If you look at the entire Gross Domestic Product (GDP), services alone constitute about 50 per cent, agriculture 22 per cent , oil and gas 14 per cent, so the economy remains very strong and robust,’’ he said.
He said that even though the global oil price had gone down but with the Nigerian reserves put at about 35 billion dollars, the economy could pick up well.
Commenting on the performances of the Nigerian banks in 2014, he said that with the existing regulations, the banks had fared well.
He said that banks witnessed a whole lot of additional costs associated with doing business, adding that it could be attributed to slight reductions in performance.
“For instance, the ATM charges that has been on for some time and was removed and then brought back, in a very small per cent of what it used to be, that will affect the income of the banks ,’’ he said.
Oduoza said that infrastructure still remained a constraint to the banks.
He, however, noted that in spite of the various challenges in the economy, the Nigerian banks in 2014 contributed positively to the growth of the economy.
He expressed hope that in 2015, the nation’s economy would be capable of creating other opportunities for growth and development.
“If anything at all, I think the re-based economy that has thrown up a lot of opportunities is going to show in the books of the banks,’’ he said.
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