By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Dr Olayemi Cardoso, has linked the country’s current economic challenges to the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Governor who stated this in his key note address at the launch of the book “Cowries to Cash” and lecture held in Abuja on Tuesday, also blamed the situation on the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war.
Represented by the CBN Director of Banking Supervision, Mr. Mustapha Haruna, the Governor noted that the Cowries to Cash transformation has been deepened by the implementation of the cashless policy.
According to him, the book would eloquently capture the evolutionary journey in the history of the CBN particularly with regards to the phenomenal transformation of the Nigerian payment system in the last two or three decades.
“One of our strategic priorities in this effort is to foster financial inclusion and I’m very sure you will also relate to the progress we have made based on the current numbers.
“We have financial inclusion in the neighbourhood of about 64 per cent. Over 64 per cent of Nigerians have access to formal financial services. Our vision is to push the boundaries to over 95 per cent and we are well on course, in achieving that objective”, Cardoso stated.
He assured that the CBN would continue to collaborate with the key stakeholders, particularly the fiscal authorities to ensure that it addressed a number of the essential issues and challenges currently facing the country
In his remarks, Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Dr Tope Fasua, disclosed that President Tinubu’s administration is working on policies that will strengthen the Naira.
While positing that the fall in the value of the currency of a country is a sign of conquest, he said “When you want to destroy a country, destroy its currency first.”
He cautioned Nigerians who are hoarding foreign currencies with the hope that the local currency would continue to fall, warning that the policies of the government would shock them.
Fasua who represented the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, at the event said: “For those who are speculating and praying and wishing that the currency would become nonsense, I believe that the policies are being rolled out by the central bank and the government that I serve, led by the President, will shock some of them.
“You need to listen to the agenda, the man himself (Tinubu) and you will see that the level at which he is thinking is far ahead of most of us.
“You know, he has some very great ideas coming up. Some of them are what you’ve seen reversing the fall in the value of the naira, but he has also challenged us to review forward many of the targets, for example, the idea that Nigeria’s economy will get to a trillion dollars. He wants to achieve it by 2026.
“Some people thought that the naira would continue to lose value. Of course, we can already see what’s going on and who knows, maybe the Naira will strengthen even further to maybe something 500 or 600. I’m beginning to see some of those.”
He said there was going to be some tectonic reorganization of the banking sector to make the naira more stable and stronger.
“If you want to position your exports properly, you have to be strategic, even in terms of the value of your currency. So you’re going to see all of these, including efforts from the fiscal side.
“We have patriots running the economy right now. And naysayers have to be very, very afraid,” Fasua said.
Speaking on the essence of the book, the author and the Executive Director of Asher Global Treasures, Princess Iphie, emphasised the need to preserve the evolution of money and its history in Nigeria.
Iphie said: “If you don’t know what yesterday was and you don’t know what is today, definitely you will not know what tomorrow will be. So we started from Cowries to Manillas and then other ones before we started with the exchange of goods and then this is where we are right now — the technological age and loads of innovation.”
