The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has said the CBN is leading the drive towards diversifying the nation’s economy away from oil through numerous interventions.

Emefiele said this at the 33rd Seminar organised by CBN for the Finance Correspondents and Business Editors on Saturday in Lagos.

The conference, which was held simultaneously in Lagos and Abuja, was themed, ‘Policy Options for Economic Diversification: Thinking Outside the Crude Oil-Box’.

Emefiele, who was represented by the Director, Corporate Communication Department, Osita Nwanisobi,  said the quest for building a robust economy had remained the major component of the monetary policy, adding that Nigeria has largely depended on the oil sector for revenue generation over the past four decades.

He, however, said there was need to build a broad-based and well-diversified economy that would guarantee overall macroeconomic stability.

“The quest for building a more sophisticated economy and agricultural, micro, small, and medium enterprises, industrial and manufacturing concerns have become the major component of our monetary policy.

“Nigeria has largely depended on the oil sector for revenue generation over the past four decades, and the sustained decline in crude oil production has continued to negatively undermine the performance of the economy.

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“Thus, there is the urgent need for a conscientious effort to diversify to other non-oil sectors,” Emefiele said.

The CBN Governor said the apex bank has supported non-oil sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare, education, power and aviation, and other allied economic value chains.

Emefiele added that Nigeria has become a rice exporting country, saying the banks’ flagship Anchor Borrowers programme (ABP) has changed the long-standing dependence on imported rice.

He said the CBN had through its Agriculture Credit Scheme, supported commercial farmers in the country in different value chains including oil palm, cotton, and cocoa, among others.

He said the implementation of 44 items prohibited from foreign exchange for import had revealed that the bank’s continued support to the manufacturing sector and MSMEs was yielding great results.

The CBN Governor said the apex bank’s health sector intervention was beginning to reduce healthcare tourism, which according to him, was helping to conserve the country’s foreign exchange and improve the well-being of Nigerians.

The Star