There are indications that Federal government has moved to stop execution of judgement ordering Nigeria to pay $9b to a British firm, Process and Industrial Development Ltd
Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele disclosed this while speaking with Journalists on the sidelines at the ongoing Presidential Retreat for newly appointed Ministers at the Presidential Villa, Abuja
“I am not scared at all. Since the news about the judgement broke out late on Friday, we have been discussing with our counsels, and they have advised that there are sufficient and strong grounds on the basis of which we could file a stay of execution and also an appeal against that judgement.
Emefiele pointed out that “there are certain anomalies in the process leading to the award of that contract”, adding that the issues are already being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC
“I believe that the EFCC themselves have their own investigation reports about that.
“So, we will follow through and aggressively too on ensuring that the execution of that judgement is stayed and that the appeal succeeds at every level both within Nigeria and abroad”
Emefiele used the opportunity to assure friends of Nigeria, both local and foreign investors that there is no need for anybody to worry.
“We know the implication of that judgement, that it has some impact on monetary policy and that is why the CBN is going to step forward and very strongly too to ensure that we defend the country and defend the reserves of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”
He described the retreat as a very brilliant initiative since it will help government to set the focus.
“Everybody will know what the assignments and responsibilities will be in specific terms between now and the next four years.
“I am here because as a member of the monetary policy authority, it is part of the attempts for collaboration between the monetary and fiscal authorities in Nigeria.
On the President’s directives to the nation’s apex bank to stop forex to people who import food items into the country, he disclosed that the policy has been part of the logic of CBN’s management foreign exchange policies that we started since 2016.
“If you recall, we started with about 41 items (food and non-food items), because we believe that those items can be produced in the country.
“As we stand today, there are about 43 items on that list and I will say substantially most of them are food items. We are basically saying, if we have a food item that can be produced in the country, why should we waste scare foreign exchange importing those items into the country, when those can be produced in the country
He, however regreted what he described as attempt to misrepresent the comments of Mr. President on the issue
” It is very unfair and unfortunate But, what we will say from the CBN is that Mr. President has made this comment purely to strengthen the position of the CBN, to say that he believes in what the CBN has been doing since 2016 and there is need for us to reinforce that going forward
“I will say that to honest, we would aggressively go more into the list of items that are being imported into the country, items that can be produced in Nigeria.
He stressed that the policy would ensure that more of these items will get on the list of items that are going to be restricted from accessing foreign exchange in Nigerian banking industry not just from the CBN source.
” I have heard some comments that maybe it’s about the CBN’s source, it is not the CBN’s source, we are saying you will not be able to access foreign exchange from the Nigerian banking industry because it is important for us to produce these items in Nigeria and we will follow through on them”
“There will never be an amendment because the issue is this, why should we be exporting jobs to other countries?
” Today we are complaining that there is a high rate of unemployment, leading to some extent the level of insecurity in the country, why should we allow people to import food that can be produced in the country? We need to improve wealth in our rural communities and I am saying we will not change course, we will even be more aggressive on this Programme.”
Emefiele also used the opportunity to alley fears that the pronouncement will have negative affect the content of the AfCFTA.
“The important thing is that Nigeria needs to stand as the largest economy in Africa and the largest populated countries in Africa, we need to stand and dictate the terms under which we want to be in it and this is what we are staying.
“But what I am saying is that it is wrong, it is inappropriate that an item that can be produced in Nigeria should be imported into Nigeria.
“When we get into the AfCFTA issues we will also look at the details of it, but at this time we are saying we need to create jobs for our country, for the youths and we need to create jobs, we yearn for growth and the only way we can really accelerate growth in a Nigeria between now and next four years is to see to it that items that can be produced in Nigeria are indeed produced in Nigeria rather than being imported into the country”
