Emefiele vows to sustain Forex policy on 41 items, recover unpaid duties on rice imports

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has declared that there is no going back on the central bank’s recent policy shutting out 41 imported items from the foreign exchange (forex) window, even as he vowed to recover unpaid import duties on rice.

Emefiele, who expressed the resolve of the CBN to pursue a vigorous policy on the promotion of locally-produced goods not only to build robust foreign reserves, but also to create jobs for the teeming population, vowed to sustain the ban on access to forex for the importation of the 41 items.

The CBN governor, who spoke while hosting a stakeholders’ meeting with officials of paddy rice producing states and rice value chain investors in Abuja yesterday, said the event was not an opportunity for “idle rhetoric or long-winding speeches”.

He said the meeting was aimed at constructive discussions on the pressing issue at hand, “which is our collective response to the new CBN policy measure that has included rice in the list of 41 items excluded from procuring foreign exchange from the Nigerian foreign exchange markets”.

“Since the announcement of the new policy, a few have wondered why rice was included in the list while many commentators have also passionately intoned on why the country continues to import rice, when our vast quantities of paddy rice of comparable quality produced by our hardworking farmers across the rice belts of the country are being wasted or simply ignored.

“The reason for the inclusion of rice on the list is not far-fetched. Figures available with the CBN show that from the period January 2012 to May 2015, the country had spent over US$2.41 billion on the importation of this commodity.

“Unfortunately, this trend has resulted in huge unsold stock of paddy rice cultivated by our farmers and low operating capacities of the many integrated rice mills in Nigeria,” he said.

He noted that it was incontrovertible that the country can never fully attain its true potential by simply importing everything into its shores, including those it can produce competitively locally.

“This trend must not be allowed to continue. Indeed, with the new policy measure in place, this forum has been called to explore fresh ideas, thinking out of the box and desirably coming up with a new ‘National Rice Intervention Framework’ that all stakeholders can own, identify and support religiously,” Emefiele said.

He disclosed that the importance attached to the new thrust to encourage local rice production was underscored by the presence of Kebbi State Governor, Alhaji Atiku Bagudu, at yesterday’s stakeholders’ meeting, thanking him for representing governors of the 10 paddy rice producing states in the country at the meeting.

“In the past few weeks, we have had several deliberations on how to resuscitate our domestic industries and improve employment generation in the country using the rice sub-sector as a key launch pad.

“Their commitment to this cause deeply signifies the growing partnership with the CBN in the diversification of the economy from oil,” he said, adding, however, that by doing this, the central bank does not intend to take over the roles and responsibilities of the Ministry of Agriculture, nor any other stakeholder in the rice value chain.

According to him, the CBN only seeks to play its role as a facilitator and catalyst in creating an ecosystem where all stakeholders can work together in a creative synergy providing funding where the need arises.

He stated that yesterday’s meeting would seek to conclude deliberations with the integrated rice millers on buying existing stock of unsold paddy rice in the country so as to encourage more Nigerians to embrace rice farming.

Emefiele assured the rice famers, millers and other stakeholders in the rice value chain of the central bank’s support to finance their production activities, and implored them to explore all funds created by the bank as well as other relevant financing windows.

He also advised them to seek financing from other financial outlets at single digit interest rates, urging them to report financial institutions that lend them at above nine per cent to the CBN for appropriate sanctions.

Responding to a question on some rice importers who failed to pay appropriate duties, Emefiele said he was in the know about such importers.

He said the importers in question received approval to import certain quantities of rice, but imported above the level approved by the government, thereby failing to pay duties on the additional stock.

The CBN governor vowed that the unpaid duties would be recovered and implored the importers in question to pay the duties before the central bank wields the big stick on them.

He regretted that what Nigerians could not try in other countries was being perpetrated in Nigeria, warning that it was unacceptable.

Also speaking, the Kebbi State governor said when he first spoke with Emefiele following the denial of forex for the importation of 41 items in the country, including rice, there was serious apprehension on whether there was enough capacity to meet the local demand for the food crop.

The governor expressed satisfaction that such apprehension had now given way to optimism, stating that available stock in the country showed that not only was there enough local paddy for consumption, but also enough for export. Bagudu thanked the CBN for the bold steps taken to bolster local production and stop capital flight, urging that more should be done in preparation for the next rice farming season, particularly for dry season rice.

In their remarks, the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria, Rice Millers Association of Nigeria and others in the value chain vowed to give Emefiele their unflinching support in the new drive to encourage local rice production.

In another development, the CBN has asked President Muhammdu Buhari to sign into law the three financial bills recently passed by the National Assembly.

The bills, which are aimed at transforming not only the financial sector, but the country in general include the Financial Ombudsman, Electronic Transactions and Nigeria International Financial Centre (NISFC) Bills.

Speaking yesterday at the E-Government Summit 2015 organised by E-Payment Providers Association of Nigeria (E-PPAN), in collaboration with FSS2020/CBN, the Deputy Governor of CBN, Operations, Alhaji Suleiman Barau, said passing the bills into law was urgently needed.

He appealed to Buhari to assent to the bills, as doing so would transform the nation’s financial landscape and the entire country because of the huge impact they would usher into the society.

In a keynote address, Anambra State Governor Willy Obiano noted that given the drop in federally allocated revenue, states should invest in robust ICT infrastructure capable of boosting collection of internally generated revenue in all areas.

He urged states to partner the private sector in devising the means of building shared platforms in order to bring down costs and inject maximum efficiency.

According to him, Anambra had benefitted enormously from a structured process and the efficient use of ICT in its drive for increased revenue, adding that the reorganisation of the state’s processes and a determined use of technology had helped it increase monthly internally generated revenue from N500 million to about N1.1 billion.

He added that the state was targeting the N3 billion mark.

 

[ThisDay]