Bankers committee to resolve structural issues inhibiting non-oil export receipts – Emefiele

The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Chairman, Bankers Committee, Mr Godwin Emefiele, has said that the committee could no longer delay in resolving the structural issues inhibiting non-oil export receipts.

Emefiele said this at the opening of the 13th Annual Bankers’ Committee retreat, on Friday in Lagos, saying the two-day event will provide stakeholders the opportunity to review the progress and implementation of RT200.

Our correspondent reports that the theme of the two-day retreat is “Increasing the Productive Base of the Nigerian Economy: Focus on Boosting Non-Oil Export Revenues*.

Emefiele said that it was in view of the need to support the fundamentals of the Nigerian economy, diversify from dependence on oil inflows, and minimise the debilitating pressures in the foreign exchange market that the apex bank launched the RT200 programme in February 2022.

“What we’re saying here is that because of the crisis that we’re seeing facing most countries, and Nigeria not being an exception, we must, in an attempt to work towards diversifying the nation’s economy, begin to think about how do we pay less reliance on revenues coming from crude.

“We are in the business of servicing customers, and servicing customers also entails that they have import needs and they need foreign exchange to conduct their import activities.

“To do so means that you need foreign exchange to service them. There is a clear shortage of foreign exchange today. But yet as bankers, we must meet the needs of our customers.

“The market is tight, and I know we don’t have a choice. We will have to do something to ensure that this problem is solved. That is the reason we have decided that this retreat must focus on RT200 essentially,” he said.

The CBN governor said the RT200 initiative, which was designed to stimulate non-oil exports with a US$200 billion foreign exchange income target in three to five years, had been widely accepted and driven by the institutions that constitute the Bankers’ Committee.

He urged the Bankers’ Committee to recognise the critical role of the financial system in accelerating the development of the productive base of the economy, in order to contribute to national development and economic growth.