EMEFIELE RALLIES STAKEHOLDERS’ SUPPORT TO ACCELERATE NIGERIA’S NON-OIL FX

Value-adding Exports Facility, Non-oil Commodities Expansion Facility, Non-oil FX Rebate Scheme, Dedicated Non-oil Export Terminal and Biannual Non-oil Export Summit.

Emefiele restated that over N3.5 billion had been paid to exporters who brought in their export proceeds. He said in April 2022, the CBN released a total of N3.5 billion non-oil export rebate to exporters through the banks in support of the RT200 initiative.

He appealed passionately to the NPA, the Customs and shipping companies in a working group to work with the bankers’ committee to resolve challenges associated with international trade.

“We have heard of people who want to export their goods queuing for weeks or months before their goods can go out. Because time is against us, in the short run, what can the NPA and customs do for the exporters, whether they want to create a set of dedicated routes from which they can easily export their goods?”

“We need those export proceeds badly. It is sad that because of the problem of finding an easier route for goods to be exported out of the country, Nigerian exporters prefer to transport by road or sometimes barges from Lagos to Accra or the Republic of Benin to export from there. Doing these we lose the opportunity to earn export proceeds.

“Customs and NPA in the working group, we want you to look at the long run and the short run. In the short run look at how we immediately create a dedicated export route for exporters, so that their goods can leave. Many of those containers that bring goods into the country go out empty because of these problems,” he said.

Speaking further, Emefiele said: “Let us work on finding a dedicated route where exports can go out easily. In the long run, how do we work on the Lagos Free Trade Zone and create a road that will take the goods through an express road. The Lekki port has a blueprint of a road that goes to Ondo which is about 50km.

“The Infracorp is ready to fund that if we can yield to that because what I find is that instead of yielding to doing what is good of our country, people want to own colonies because they believe it is their exclusive responsibility. We're talking about how we can work together now.”

According to him, the programme was borne out of the realisation that most of the country’s current sources of forex inflows were unreliable and perennially prone to exogenous vicissitudes of global economic developments.

“And with the grossly untapped potential of Nigeria, there is a strong need for us to work together to diversify our forex revenue earnings to the non-oil sector.

“For example, we have all been witnesses to the ever-changing fortunes of oil-exporting countries. Even those that have been reputed to manage their oil proceeds well also suffer from major shocks once oil prices plummet.

“In order to avoid these sudden adjustments to our economic life, it is the view of the banker’s committee to focus on strategies that can help us earn more stable and sustainable inflows of foreign exchange into Nigeria.

“We would need to follow the best practices of other countries and ensure that we protect ourselves a little bit from factors that are beyond our immediate control,” he noted.

Furthermore, he said as things presently stand, the country has very little choice left but to look inwards and find innovative solutions to our problems.

“Monetary Policy alone cannot bear all the burden of the expected adjustments needed to manage these difficulties. These problems call for urgent design and steadfast implementation of other supportive, structural, and complementary policies that are broad-based, coordinated, and focused on complementing the work of the monetary authority.

“We would try as much as possible to provide cheap affordable long-term financing for companies that really truly deserve and would conduct export activities of goods and services.

“But we feel we cannot do this alone. We need a handshake between the bankers, central bank, exporters, and those in the value-chain and more importantly with our brothers and sisters in the government agencies that are involved in the process of export in Nigeria.

“There has been indeed unbearable difficulty and challenges faced by exporters in exporting goods out of Nigeria. We need the support of NPA, please work with us, the bankers’ committee is ready in any way to provide the needed support that can smooth the challenges involved in our port operations in Nigeria. We truly and badly need foreign exchange to fund the import needs of our country. We can no longer continue as a country to depend on revenue from crude oil where we have no control over price and quantity.

“We all need to work together because it is a pledge and responsibility that we can and