NACCIMA canvasses support for new Naira design
By Abimbola Mohammed
The Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has lent its weight to the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to redesign the Naira notes. The call was made during the Annual workshop/Awards & Recognition of Commerce & Industry Correspondent Association of Nigeria (CICAN) at Sheraton Hotel Ikeja, Lagos with the theme: “Manufacturing: Despite FX & Energy Crisis”.
Dr. Ide John Udegbala, National President, NACCIMA, who was one of the speakers at the event noted that the currency change is long overdue as the circulation of old notes has done more harm than good to the economy of Nigeria. While adding that if the currency is changed it will help the banking sector to track hidden notes it will help in terms of liquidity and also improve lending and loans for big businesses and SMEs.
Dr. Udegbala words: “Currency change is overdue for the last five years because when you hear that you have 2trillion naira notes outside the banking sector and system it means that our economy cannot benefit, so if central bank succeeds attracting these notes back into the banking system it will improve the liquidity of banks and when bank liquidity is improved leadings will be easier and possible.”
He added that the currency change will also enhance credibility with the Central Bank because it will be difficult for the Central Bank to monitor cash flow when large chunks of the notes are outside of the banking sector.
“You can’t be talking about monitoring issues when 80% of the note is outside the banking sector. It means that the World Bank, IMF, and other agencies will regard figures or whatever indexes that come out of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as correct. We should also look at the security implications, when these currencies are in it is easy for security agencies to track and understand the heavy movement of cash. We know what cash can do to the economy when it is not under the control of the bank, so it will be easier for security agencies to track money.”
He added that it will also increase the use of electronic transfers; if the currency has the tendency to last for 5-10 years it will be harmonised over the period, so NACCIMA is in total support.
Speaking on the rising cost of energy, the NACCIMA boss noted that the energy sector is over-stressed and cannot compete in the international market.
“The sector is already depressed; the energy cost is something we cannot joke with. My major concern is that our public energy is going down every day so many times we have heard about grid collapse. There is no way we can compete favorably in African free trade with the energy cost going up every day. The cost of production will skyrocket. Energy cost, diesel cost is affecting manufacturers.”
Charging the Nigeria government with its responsibility to build infrastructure and also get the four refineries working to enable growth in the manufacturing sector and also cut the cost of foreign exchange, he said, “Government’s responsibility all over the world is to increase and build infrastructure in so many ways, for an instant why should Nigeria have four refineries and none is working? If we repair four of our refineries the cost of diesel will reduce, and we won’t need foreign exchange to import diesel again because about 23% of our foreign exchange is used in the importation of fuel, whereas Eurasia exports 5% of petroleum as their major import.”
He assured Nigerians that when the refineries work things will fall into place for everyone in the country.
“if our refineries have been working, our industrial revolution would have started. But we can’t talk about that when there is no working refinery when we import fuel and diesel. When our refinery is repaired everything will fall in line.”
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