By William Jimoh

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, (MAN) has attributed the various challenges militating against the development of the Nigeria economy, manufacturing industry in particular, to the faulty monetary framework of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Addressing participants at the fourth edition of the Ikeja manufacturers consultative forum in Lagos on Thursday, tagged ‘Salvaging the Nigerian Economy’, the chairman of the association, Mr. Isaac Agoye, noted that it is glaring that the lending rate of double digit interest rate, in addition  to other policies of the apex bank, are upheavals for the growth of manufacturing sector.

According to Agoye “The gradual and continuous degenerating state of· the Nigerian economy has been a serious concern to a lot of us. Several efforts made by the government to get the economy out of this quagmire to avoid an impending economic crisis, have yielded little result.”

“The real sector, which drives the economy has become handicapped due to unfriendly monetary policies of CBN. The truth remains that no country in the world has ever developed with an interest rate as high as 25 per cent. This has made it almost impossible for investors to access the funds needed for investments. Youths unemployment is also an area of serious, concern,” he added.

“W e appreciate the efforts made so far by the Federal Government to grow the economy and make the country attractive for investors,” he further stated.

In his address, Mr. Henry Boyo, a renowned economist and analyst, maintained that, “The Nigerian economy even as it is today can be transformed in six months,” adding that,  “it does not require any legislation, all it takes is the will to do the right thing.”

He added that devaluing the naira in favour of the United State dollar, which has been the policy embraced by successive CBN governors cannot yield any positive result in transforming the economy, rather there is urgent need to amend some of these polices to rescue the economy.

“If the naira is strengthened, there will be cheaper fuel price, low machinery and material cost, low production cost, cheap products, low inflation rate, stronger purchasing power and higher employment,” Boyo said

Speaking further, he said, “Something is openly wrong, there is no developed economy of the world that is monopolising its foreign exchange policy. The CBN should stop monopolising ours because doing this has always been the beginning of our problems.”

He therefore maintained that to salvage the economy from the impending crisis, there is need to stop the payment of dollar allocations in place of the substitution, abolish $3 billion sales to BDCs monthly and weekly auctions by the bank, as well as control of future foreign direct investment into the real sector as opposed to speculative and unstable hedge funds.

Boyo added that for the economy to grow, there is also need for improved banking regulation and resident of CBN auditors in the bank and constitutional review to allow federating units to partner with private investors to meet power needs, including generation, transmission and distribution.