The Coalition of Civil Society Groups, CCSG, have held a solidarity rally in support of President Muhammadu Buhari and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele for recovering the nation’s economy after the negative impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The rally was held at the Unity Fountain, in Abuja on Wednesday, September 22, 2021.
Addressing the press during a Solidarity Rally at the Unity Fountain, President of CCSG, Etuk Bassey Williams, and the Secretary-General, Abubakar Ibrahim showered praises on the duo of Buhari and Emefiele on stabilizing the economy.
Williams said that both men had made efforts to turn around the negative indices of the economy as a result of sound policies. Adding that the recorded achievements in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSMEs, to small farm holders is laudable.
His words: “We applaud the recorded achievements in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), the small Farm holders. We also appreciate his effort towards assisting our industries to meet-up with international standards in the quality of goods produced for export”.
Speaking further, Mr. Williams said many Nigerians have benefited from wonderful policies of the CBN such as the Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme (YEDP), Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme (AADS), the Agri-business/Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS).
He added that these policies have impacted positively in the lives of many Nigerians.
“The Anchor Borrowers Programme that has increased yield per hectare and food security in the country is a plus to the CBN. This policy among others is in support of the drive by the Government to diversify the economy and stimulate growth in the agriculture sector.
“It is without doubt that the Effort of CBN in ensuring protection of Bank customers, effective supervision of Deposit Money Banks and Other Financial Institutions; and deepening of financial inclusion through an effective banking and payments system in recent times has yielded positive results
“Governor Emeficle’s support for the Creative Industries through the Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI), which is being implemented in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee, is a huge boost in the Creative Industry.
“We frown at the economic sabotage going on in the Forex market. We condemn a situation where the disparity between the official bank-exchange rates for dollar/naira will be too high, thereby creating inflation.
“We applaud the sincere effort to salvage the naira, the CBN stop of sales of Forex to Bureau De Change (BDC) Operators who exploit and artificially inflate dollar/naira exchange. We applaud this move to discourage illicit financial flow, BDC racketeering and indiscriminate round tripping.
“We hereby call on the Governor to suspend the activities of the BDC operators in totality and supply money to the commercial Banks,
“We also demand that a monitoring committee that comprises of EFCC, CBN and NFIU be set up to cheek and arrest BDC operators who go to the Banks to buy off the dollar using fake application.
“We also applaud the CBN introduction of e-naira, we are confident that this policy will stimulate economic activities that will result into job and wealth creation”.
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