CBN Governor, Peterside disagree on way out of nation’s economic woes

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Thursday sharply disagreed with an investment banker and Chairman of the Stanbic IBTC Bank, Mr. Peterside Atedo, over some recommendations by the latter on how the nation’s economy could be moved out of its present economic doldrums.
This is even as the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, disclosed that 40 percent of the government spending is currently going into pay roll, stressing however that the present administration has succeeded in bringing down the amount being spent in paying federal workers from N165 billion monthly to N159 billion through the blockage of various leakages in the system.
Emefiele, Peterside and Adeosun spoke  in Abuja at the 14th Daily Trust Dialogue with the theme “Beyond Recession: Towards a Resilient Economy.”
The dialogue, which had Chief Philip Asiodu, a former Presidential Economic Adviser and one time Petroleum Minister as Chairman, attracted ministers, top government officials and university dons among others.
Mr. Peterside, in his contribution at the event, had listed 11 issues which he said were wrong with the economic policies of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Peterside had, among others, accused the government of reluctance to break away completely from the past search for economic direction stressing that its economic direction remains unclear.
He further said that the CBN needed to accept that its foreign exchange policy management has failed as it has created a serious siege in the country. Peterside particularly took a swipe at the nation’s apex bank over the directive that 60 percent of the foreign exchange be sold to operators in the manufacturing sector, stressing that such has led to a lot of negative impact.
The Investment Banker, who kept repeating that he was making those observations “because of my love for my country” equally berated the federal government for its refusal to reach agreement with the Niger Delta militants, stressing that the refusal has been causing the nation a whopping $6billion loss annually.
He canvassed for a constitutional arrangement whereby onne percent of the revenue from mineral resources in any part of the country will be set aside for the land owners.
Peterside, who pushed for the deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry, further stated that the nation’s civil service is over bloated thus leading to corruption.
He added that less than 25percent of the 36 states in the country are viable.
Peterside claimed that Nigeria has a dysfunctional legal system, stressing that the Chief Justice of the federation should embark on the reform of the nation’s judicial system.
He argued that for the anti-corruption crusade of the federal government to be successful, the government must learn to respect the rule of law as well obey court orders, stating that such will restore business confidence in the country.
The banker insisted that the nation’s economy is currently under-performing because of low foreign exchange.
He warned that Nigeria may be heading the way of Venezuela and Zimbabwe if urgent steps are not taken to turn around the nation’s economy.
However, the CBN Governor, Mr. Emefiele, who obviously could not hide his disagreement with some of the positions of Peterside, said, “some of the points raised by Mr. Peterside are contestable”.
The CBN Governor added, “we disagree with some of his (Peterside’s) points. Nevertheless, we will look at some of the points too. We love our country and we are willing to dialogue.
“Government is doing its best under a very difficult economy and in a global economic crisis.
“We will not head the way of Venezuela and Zimbabwe because we love our country.
“Our priority will continue to be the Nigerian masses, while our emphasis will continue to be on those who want to produce what the government cannot,” he said.
He explained that policies are not made in isolation, stressing that they are targetted towards achieving set goals.
In her presentation earlier, the Finance Minister recalled that when the present administration came to power, it discovered that 90 percent of the government’s spending was on recurrent expenditure, with only 10 percent for capital expenditure.
She added quickly that, “It is the capital expenditure that grows the economy”.
The Minister noted also that the state of the nation’s infrastructural facilities had for long time held her back, assuring that “the present government is determined to get the infrastructure right”.
She harped on the need to diversify the economy from the oil economy to other non oil sectors.
According to her, “To unlock Nigetia’s full potential, our reform strategy needs to solve for both historic and current challenges.”
Adeosun said the Federal government had eliminated corruption through systemic changes in government finances, adding that “we will spend more on capital, critical sector and industrialisation like agriculture, agro allied, solid minerals and manufacturing”.
The Chairman of the event, chief Asiodu, in his remarks, lamented the lack of political will on the part of previous regimes in the past to implement the various development plans of the country.