‘Naira appreciation to drive Nigeria’s economic recovery in 2017’

If the right measures are not put in place to strengthen the value of the naira, the economy would find it difficult to rebound and get out of recession in 2017, maritime industry stakeholders say.

According to them, there is urgent need for the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to tackle the issues limiting access to foreign exchange, because almost every sector of the economy depends on foreign currencies, with high exchange rate, to do business.

Olayiwola Shittu, president, Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), who said in an interview with SHIPS & PORTS that 2016 would remain the most memorable year for Customs brokers due to the impact of global economic downturn on their businesses, said naira devaluation coupled with high exchange rate, limited the volume of imports last year.

“We rely on the services rendered to importers to be in business and as long as importers are not importing, we will always find it difficult to operate. So, the downturn affected cargo clearing business to a very large extent,” he said.

Lamenting that the shortfall in the supply of foreign exchange has impacted largely on the performance of the nation’s manufacturing companies, Shittu advised the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to tackle the issues of corruption surrounding the management of foreign exchange, to ensure that foreign currencies were given to genuine importers and manufacturers that want to grow their businesses.

He urged President Mohammadu Buhari to work out plans to get the economy right by strengthening the naira and tackling the prevailing economic recession.
Shittu, who believed that the government needed to reduce the number of government agencies operating at the ports, said the presence of multiple agencies at the ports not only create bottleneck in cargo clearing, but also create avenue for sharp practices.

“All the agencies in the port including those clamouring to go back, want to go back because of what they are getting for themselves,” he said.

Emmanuel Nwabunwanne, a Lagos-based importer, who decried the role played by scarcity of foreign exchange and devaluation of naira in limiting foreign trade and reducing import volume in 2016, said “the future of the nation’s economy lies in the hands of the national economic management team, whose role is to make strategic economic decisions that would drive the economy.”

Frank Ukor, president, Association of Registered Freight Forwarders in Nigeria, who noted that the CBN policy on foreign exchange control was part of the reasons why there was low business performance at the port last year, observed that the CBN needed to make forex available to importers and manufacturers for the economy to boom this year.