Senate To CBN, Ministers: Your Policies Are Failing

The monetary and fiscal policies implemented by the federal government, have been described as ineffective to solve the nation’s current economic challenges.

The verdict was handed down by the Nigerian Senate to the Economic Management Team of the Federal Government, including Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso; Minister of Agriculture, Sen. Abubakar Kyari; Minister of Finance, Wale Edun; Minister of Budget and National Planning, Abubakar Bagudu and Minister of State for Agriculture, Sen. Alyiu Abullahi Sabi.

Members of the Senate Committee on Finance, Banking, Insurance, and Financial Institutions, made this known on Friday, while addressing Cardoso and other ministers who appeared before the committee to answer questions regarding the current economic situation and more importantly, the free fall of the Naira and hike in prices of food.

Senate Committee Chairman on Finance, Senator Sani Musa, decried the persistent hunger and unemployment despite the policies deployed by the CBN and the federal government.

Musa, while querying the effectiveness of the policies asked: “Will you convincingly tell Nigerians that this policy is working? More people are hungry, which means your policies are not working. Go and look at the number of Toyota vehicles, do we manufacture Toyota vehicles? How much foreign exchange do we pay for Toyota vehicles?

“Do we have a policy that will make backward integration work? By Making Toyota come back here and make an assembly plant that will serve Nigeria and sub West African nations?

Sani Musa urged the Agriculture Minister Abba Kyari to step up his efforts. He said: “Look at our Agriculture sector and compare what Brazil is doing with their development bank. Can they do it in Nigeria? “These policies are not working. For sometime, the Central Bank closed the OMO (Open Market Operations) to allow the market to dictate, but has that worked?

“There’s no country that will allow such freelance in foreign exchange policy. When was the last time you heard in the UK, Saudi Arabia even in some of the developing countries where you allow your foreign exchange to skyrocket? It’s not done.

“We are in a country where we have the best economists. Which local or foreign investor in Nigeria today will be very secure to invest in this country today?

On foreign loans, the lawmaker lamented that despite the previous loans approved by the Senate for the Executive, there has been no improvement.

In a series of posers fired at the ministers and CBN Governor, Musa queried the $3.3billion collected as loan to rescue Naira, since expected positive effects are not being felt, months after.

Former Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Orju Uzor Kalu also asked the CBN governor: “What measures are you putting in place to strengthen the naira because the manufacturing and Agricultural sector has gone dead.

“How do you expect to generate foreign exchange when farmers are no longer going to farms? Herdsmen have taken over. Are you going to print dollars? “The Governor of the Central Bank and his team have concentrated so much on the monetary side of the economy, nobody is talking deeply about the fiscal side because it impacts directly on the poor people.

“We must abolish the use of dollars in any shop, hotels or any place in Nigeria. Nobody should be seen with dollars except the authorized dollars. Even shops in Abuja advertise their goods to be bought in dollars. What efforts is the CBN making to bring to book those behind the 2.4 billion dollars of the FX backlog claims that are fraudulent?”

In his response, the Central Bank Governor assured that the bank’s policies were beginning to yield results to ease the economic situation in the country.

Source:- Sunnewsonline