Emefiele: Nigeria Must Tackle Rising Youth Unemployment
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele yesterday stressed the need to address the rising youth unemployment in the country. The CBN Governor made this call while speaking at the FITC Thought Leadership Discussion Series held in Lagos.
Represented by the Director, Risk Management, CBN, Mrs. Folakemi Fatogbe, he said the country must tackle the challenges that population growth poses in the face of rising unemployment.
“We will be growing poverty if we don’t address unemployment among youths,” he warned. Also, while responding to an earlier call at the event, for further liberalisation of Nigeria’s forex market that was made by a Corporate Governance Consultant and Director of the Zambia Multifacility Economic Zone, Patrick Chisanga, Emefiele explained that liberalisation of the forex market would require a gradual process.
Fatogbe, who also represented the Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, CBN, Mrs. Aisha Ahmad, pointed out that efficient on functioning banking system was crucial for the implementation of monetary policy.
“Strengthening the banking system requires joint effort from all stakeholders from the industry. We should not lose focus of our target on financial inclusion,” she added.
According to her, though the financial industry had made significant progress in promoting financial inclusion, 41.6 per cent bankable adults were still financially excluded.
To the Chairman, Federal Road Maintanence Agency (FERMA) and former, CBN Deputy Governor, Mr. Tunde Lemo, Nigerians are looking up to banks to catalyse development in the country.
Earlier, Chisanga said the CBN should liberalise the forex market in order to encourage Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) inflows. He said it was imperative for Nigeria to allow market forces to fully determine the exchange rate as Zambia did 24 years ago, which according to him, spurred economic growth.
Chisanga claimed liberalisation of exchange rate helped address that challenge of capital flight and led to improved net inflows into his country.
“Multiple exchange rates in the economy were wiped out. Macroeconomic stability began to set in.
“And very significantly we began to see increased and sustainable inflows of FDI which led to Zambia being rated as one of Africa’s fastest growing economies,” he asserted.