Take advantage of our intervention programmes for economic development, CBN tells Nigerians

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has urged Nigerians to take advantage of its intervention programmes to facilitate economic development and financial stability.

Osita Nwanisobi, director of corporate communications, CBN, said this at an event on Wednesday in Owerri, Imo state.

Nwanisiobi, represented by Sam Okogbue, deputy director, corporate communications department of CBN, said the interventions were aimed at business emancipation and poverty reduction.

He said CBN had rolled out interventions in the agricultural, manufacturing, and other sectors, while speaking on the theme ‘Promoting Financial Stability and Economic Development’.

Nwanisiobi added that CBN’s anchor borrower’s programme was the nation’s saving grace for the increased availability of rice during the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, rice was the most single popular component of our palliatives. This is a result of CBN’s anchor borrower’s programme for rice farmers,” he said.

According to Nwanisiobi, Nigeria’s over-dependence on importation was a factor responsible for the fall in the exchange rate of the naira.

He further described the manufacturing sector as a live wire for economic development.

“No successful economy thrives on the promotion of imported products over the exportation of locally manufactured products,” he said.

Also speaking, at the event, Uchenna Onyene of CBN’s currency operations department, called on Nigerians to embrace the bank’s cashless policy to reduce risk and promote seamlessness of transactions, adding that CBN was committed to ensuring innovation in payments for better customer experience.

She also admonished Nigerians to handle the naira with care in line with the provisions of section 21, sub-section 4 of the CBN Act 2007.