The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reiterated its commitment to steer the Nigerian economy away from the looming recession following the global impact of ongoing Corona Virus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The CBN’s Director, Corporate Communications Department, Isaac Okorafor, told journalists in Abuja that the apex bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and his team would not be deterred by some vested interests to challenge the integrity of the bank.
According to Okorafor, “The CBN has uncovered sinister plans by some persons with selfish interests in Nigeria’s economic and socio-political space to distract the bank and discredit the institution through deliberate misinformation, complete fabrications and outright lies.”
He said that the bank, in pursuit of its mandate enshrined in the CBN Act (2007), as Amended, would continue to strive to ensure accretion to the external reserves to safeguard the international value of the Naira, in addition to ensuring no individual or institution circumvents the system.
‘‘The Naira, in the past three years, had remained stable against other world currencies, due largely to strict measures put in place by the CBN to check cases of round-tripping, the bank, working with other relevant agencies of government, had equally curtailed the activities of economic saboteurs neck-deep in smuggling and other economic crimes,” he noted.
Okorafor said that the CBN, under Emefiele’s leadership, has made genuine patriotic efforts at promoting economic growth and development through its intervention programmes, particularly in the agricultural sector, which he noted led to the revamp of value chains across over ten agricultural commodities, including cotton, oil palm, fish, poultry, livestock and maize, among others.
He cited the rice revolution under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) as a major contributor to shielding Nigeria from a food crisis when major rice producing countries of the world halted exports from their shores in the height of the corona virus (COVID-19).
Also refering to the recent interventions of the bank through the N50 billion Targeted Credit facility (TCF) for households and small businesses affected by the corona virus and the N100 billion Credit Support for the Health sector, Okorafor said the bank remained people-oriented.
“The CBN remains committed to transparently pursuing its mandate in the interest of majority of Nigerians rather than for the selfish interest of a few, majority of Nigerians are better informed and would not indulge in unpatriotic economic acts for selfish purposes,’’ he noted.
