Business
By Anthony Isibor
Bello said in an exclusive interview in Abuja with Realnews that the IFC said that its target for Nigeria had been doubled because with the end of subsidy regime, the economy was now set to blossom.
Although, he noted that the decision will have a negative impact for the short period, he, however, commended President Tinubu for the bold step and called for a behavioral change that will encourage more exportation in the country.
According him, the end of subsidy on fuel has been the big elephant in the room regarding what was holding down the economy of Nigeria and its removal has set the nation’s economy up for boom.
“We have two issues and I think I must commend the boldness of the President on first of all removing that the fuel subsidy. It’s something the economy could not afford anymore. Even in the past we could not afford it.
“The second, of course, is the floating of the Naira. Let us get the real value of the Naira. I think that was what was holding the development of the Nigerian economy, and the boldness of the current president in dealing with it irrespective of the consequences, but it is for the future.
“But I must tell you, even in the last two to three weeks, NEXIM alone can see what the international community is seeing with this action because we are now getting interest from funders, for instance, International Finance Corporation, IFC, and other multilateral institutions.
“I see it like a V-Shaped Curve. When things drop, at the right time, they’ll pick up immediately because that positivity in the economy is going to trickle down to individual businesses and persons. I see potential massive growth in the economy,” he said.
The NEXIM boss also called for complete behavioral change that will discourage imports and make exports boom.
“The general behavior of Nigeria is that if no intervention is taken, import is not going to change, that’s from behavior, unless specific things are done to discourage import, and those specific things include import substitution, growing the industrial base of the country and then manning our borders properly.
“Africa has just been opened by the signing of AFTA by the operationalization which is happening now, AFTA is going to become an opportunity for a country like Nigeria because of several reasons; strategic location geographically, to be the cluster for West Africa into Central Africa, two is that the industrial development of Nigeria is ahead of the region so more focus on the industrialization of the country is going to put us at even a better position to be the industrial cluster for West Africa, the ease of doing business is going to be very key for us to attract the investments that will bring development of the industrial sector being of West Africa and Central Africa because of our location, because of our market, even for domestic consumption, we have a very huge market, for me I think opening of the economy by floating the naira, by removing subsidy, by making other efforts to make Nigerian business environment conducive for both domestic and international investments.
“By estimate, there is already more than around $12 billion and 18 billion that is trade out of Nigeria that is informal, efforts should be made to formalize that trade, that mean there are trade routes already into Africa, effort should be focused on making those trade routes formal and it will multiply the value that we are getting from exports. I just see opportunities, I just possibilities, I see Nigeria taking its rightful place in its economic growth and activity.
“Both the local and international investors are going to take advantage of the direction that the government is going and after the law that will happen because of massive changes due to decisions that are taken, for the economy as a whole, it’s going to be positive,” he added.
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– July 24, 2023 @ 17:18 GMT |
Tags: Abba Bello Nexim Nigerian Export-Import Bank Realnews
