By Rukayat Moisemhe

Otunba Francis Meshioye, President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), has charged government to make comprehensive and concerted efforts to overtake the binding constraints limiting local production.

Meshioye gave this charge at the MAN 51st Annual General Meeting (AGM) news conference on Wednesday in Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the AGM scheduled for Oct. 17 to Oct. 19, 2023 has the theme: “Setting the Agenda for Competitive Manufacturing Under the AFCFTA: What Nigeria Needs To Do.”

According to the MAN president, the event’s theme was couched with deep reflection over the growth trajectory of the manufacturing sector in Nigeria and Africa.

“Focus must be on the role of the manufacturing sector in the actualisation of the AfCFTA and the integration of the African economy as envisioned in the Agenda 2063: ‘The Africa We Want.’

“Currently, the cost of manufacturing is daily rising owing to scarce and unavailable manufacturing inputs that continue to shrink profitability and threaten the existence of the critical sector of the economy,” he said.

Meshioye noted that more worrisome was the fact that the sector that should propel job creation, productivity, and economic growth was enmeshed in series of challenges that constantly limited its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“Such challenges as epileptic power supply, insecurity, inadequate infrastructure, shortage of foreign exchange and naira depreciation are prevailing issues that are impacting negatively on the sector.

“Government must seek to attract foreign investment that will bring about a reduction in the foreign exchange chase and ensure sufficient foreign exchange inflow that the country clearly requires.

“With a new administration steering the seat of governance, it is pertinent that all hands must be on deck to achieve a vibrant economy that can compete favourably.

“To start with, government needs to prioritise investment in infrastructure and power, combat insecurity and corruption as well as introduce incentive policies that will make domestic production more attractive than the importation of finished products,” he said.

The MAN president emphasised the need for the AfCFTA window to be maximised in such a way that products manufactured in Nigeria would be preferred in terms of quality and pricing.

He noted that until the country addressed the binding constraints that made local products uncompetitive, the benefit of a continental market might end up being a mirage for the largest economy in Africa.

“In the face of these shortcomings, we remain resilient and committed to our collaborative advocacy approach, as we strive towards the attainment of practical ease in doing business.

“We seek an atmosphere that supports favourable competition with our counterparts in other countries, particularly within the continent,” Meshioye said.

He said the association’s commitment to addressing the challenges from where the shoe really pinched informed the choice of guest speaker for the 3rd Adeola Odutola Annual Lecture.

“Our distinguished Guest Speaker is Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Economic Management Team from 2010 to 2011, Olusegun Aganga.

“Our goal is to brainstorm at the AGM, dwelling on the theme for the purpose of suggesting a policy direction for the new government.

“To give a typical rundown of this year’s event, the programme will as usual run for three days at the Lagos Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos with an exhibition, AGM and lecture.

“For the manufacturing sector to become competitive, we must all not rest on our oars until we can boast of a sector that guarantees the sustainability of the economy and improvement in the standard of living of majority of the citizens,” he said. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Christiana Fadare

By Hajara Leman

Gombe State received N26 billion as grants on its achievements under the performance-based grant component of the World Bank-assisted States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) programme in four years.

The Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development, Mr Muhammad Magaji, made this known in Gombe on Tuesday shortly after the inaugural State Executive Council meeting.

Magaji the grants were attracted as a result of the fiscal transparency, accountability and sustainability (SFTAS) programme reforms implemented in the state.

”The various reforms initiated by the Gov. Inuwa Yahaya made the state transparent enough to attract such grants.

”The grant has helped the state government execute a good number of projects from infrastructure to improved healthcare amongst others which had impacted positively on the lives of the people of the state.

“We were able to implement the SFTAS reforms and earned over N26 billion for Gombe State in grants.

“The grant is between 2019 and 2023, that’s the first administration of Gov. Yahaya and it has helped in executing good projects for the benefits of the people,” he said.

This, he said, means Gombe state is more transparent, accountable and whatever we are doing is out in the public for people to see and we are not hiding any skeleton.

“We have initiated reforms and abided by them. Our account books are there for everyone to see according to the national chart of accounts.

“We publish our annual accounts for the state government. Our budgets are in order and also published on time and regularly for everyone to see.”

He also added that the state government had adopted the SFTAS requirements that ensured that the state cleared up its arrears while paying contractors on time.

The commissioner said the reforms had essentially helped the state government to continue to move forward in the transparency index..

“We were also able to reform a lot of areas in governance and we achieved a lot making Gombe the first in ease of doing business, ranking Gombe in the transparency index from 36 to number seven.

Magaji said that the state government going forward would concentrate efforts at driving in more investments that would lead to establishment of industries and creation of jobs for youths in the state.

NAN reports that the SFTAS programme is a hybrid with two components of activities that support Nigerian states to achieve the key result areas of the programme.

These are a performance-based financing component for state governments, which will be implemented as a PforR; and  a technical assistance (TA) component for states and selected national-level institutions, which will be implemented as an investment project financing (IPF).

The programme also supports the full and sustained implementation of a strategic subset of reforms from the FSP and the open government partnership (OGP) commitments that are implemented at the state-level.

The programme also provides performance-based financing on an annual basis to states which have been verified through the annual performance assessments (APA) as having: (1) complied with the annual eligibility criteria; and (2) achieved the annual disbursement linked results. (NAN)

Edited by Sadiya Hamza

By Kadiri Abdulrahman

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has assured Nigerians that its digital currency. eNaira posed no threat to financial stability.

The Director, Corporate Communications Department of CBN, Dr Isa AbdulMumin said this on Monday in Marrakech.

AbdulMumin was reacting to a recent media report that raised concerns about Nigeria’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), eNaira, indicating potential risks to financial stability.

The media report, quoting articles from a book recently released by the CBN indicated that in spite its success in narrowing the country’s financial inclusion gap, the eNaira was a potential threat to financial stability.

It said that since its inception, bank deposit conversion to eNaira had exhibited an average monthly growth of 78.3 per cent and totaled about N1.66 billion.

According to Abdulmumin, a review of the report indicates a lack of understanding of some portions of some articles in a book recently released by the CBN titled, “Economics of Digital Currencies’’.

“A recurring theme in the book is the interest of regulators such as CBN in the role of crypto currencies as speculative investments and the potential threat they harbour for financial stability.

“The articles in the book provide an in-depth understanding of CBDCs generally, and the workings of the Naira,’’ he said.

The director assured that as the eNaira structure continued to evolve, it was undergoing modifications targeted at improving the user experience “across all interfaces’’.

“We encourage Nigerians to embrace the technology for among other things, greater financial inclusion,’’ AbdulMumin said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the eNaira was initiated by the former CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele and inaugurated in October 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Nigeria is the first African country to adopt the CBDC. (NAN)

Edited by Ese E. Eniola Williams

By Okeoghene Akubuike

Ms Kristalina Georgieva, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), says a prosperous world economy in the 21st century requires a prosperous Africa.

Georgieva said this at the 2023 Annual Meetings Curtain Raiser Speech on the  Outlook for the Global Economy and Policy Priorities in Côte d’Ivoire on Thursday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the IMF boss gave the speech ahead of the IMF/World Bank 2023 Annual Meetings in Marrakech, Morocco, from Oct. 9 to Oct. 15.

She said though advanced economies were rapidly aging, they had abundant capital.

“The key will be to better connect that capital to Africa’s abundant human resources, to inject more dynamism into the current anemic global growth outlook.”

Georgieva said Africa also makes the strongest case for building economic resilience.

“The COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s war in Ukraine, climate disasters, the cost-of-living crisis, political instability, these are the many faces of a shock-prone world.

“Their impact is most fully on display in Africa, as is the overwhelming necessity to better prepare ourselves for that world.

“A prosperous Africa requires maintaining the most important bridge of all, the bridge that connects all countries, that of international cooperation.

“During the meetings, we will make coming together meaningful for the people in our member countries.”

Speaking on the global economic outlook,  the IMF boss said the economy was resilient, but challenged by weak growth and deepening divergence.

She said this was largely because of stronger-than-expected demand for services and tangible progress in the fight against inflation.

“While the recovery from the shocks of the past few years continues, it is slow and uneven.

“As you will see from our updated forecast next week, the current pace of global growth remains quite weak, well below the 3.8 per cent average in the two decades before the pandemic.

“Looking ahead over the medium term, growth prospects have weakened further.”

The IMF boss identified three policy priorities countries should consider for stronger future economic growth.

She said the first priority was to reinforce economic and financial stability by fighting inflation.

“Winning the fight against inflation requires interest rates to remain higher for longer. It is paramount to avoid a premature easing of policy, given the risk of resurging inflation.”

Georgieva noted that some countries in Africa were reforming their energy subsidies to create space for development spending.

“Nigeria, for example, recently removed fuel subsidies that cost about 10 billion dollars  last year, four times the amount spent on health.

“Many countries also need to generate higher and more reliable domestic revenue.

She said the second policy priority was to lay the foundations for inclusive, sustainable growth through transformational reforms and building strong state institutions.

“History teaches us that poor countries become richer by educating people, putting in place good infrastructure, and ensuring effective governance with respect for the rule of law.

“First and foremost is the need to invest in people. For Africa, this means expanding high-quality education at all levels, so that young people can seize the job opportunities of tomorrow.

“It also means scaling up investment in healthcare.”

The IMF boss said the third policy priority was to boost collective resilience through international cooperation, saying that cooperation is weakening at a time we need it most.

She said that international cooperation was needed to address the existential threat of climate change, especially for vulnerable countries as they dealt with shocks they had not caused.

Georgieva said there was a need to work together to help countries deal with debt challenges.

“With the right policies and Harambee meaning (pulling together in full cooperation), we can build a bridge to a more prosperous and peaceful future.

“We can lay the groundwork for a half-century even more impressive than the last.  (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Sadiya Hamza