From Lawrence Njoku, Enugu

GOVERNOR of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has advised the Federal Government to protect her local and infant industries, saying there was no free trade anywhere in the world.

Speaking as a guest lecturer at the First Professor William Okefie Uzoaga Memorial Lecture organised by the Department of Banking and Finance, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, Sanusi stressed the need to review the economic and trade policies of the country to match them with present realities.

Speaking on the topic “Growing Nigeria’s Real Sector for Employment and Economic Development: The Role of Central Bank of Nigeria,” he said sustainable development can only be achieved if adequate financial resources are mobilised and transformed into productive activities that would engender growth and generate employment.

Sanusi, who stated that Nigerian economy had been growing at seven per cent rate yearly for the last decade, disclosed that it would double in the next 10 years. But he queried the model for the inclusive growth and how it can be translated into the development of the country.

According to Sanusi, the breakdown of value chain was the bane of the nation’s economic growth “because if Nigeria’s economy, with all the dysfunction, is growing at seven per cent, what would have been the situation if the country produces all the things that are being currently imported, which could be produced locally in the country?”

“Nigerian industries need to be protected as they cannot compete with their counterparts in China, America or Britain,” he said, likening the Nigerian manufacturing sector to a young infant who instead of being protected is bullied by adults.

Sanusi observed that there is no market for Nigerian produced goods because of importation and taste for foreign goods. He stated that there is an urgent need for an economic blueprint to avert the declining rate in the manufacturing sector, stressing that Nigeria cannot claim to have an economy when the manufacturing sector is mere four per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The CBN governor suggested that agricultural production in Nigeria should change from a way of life to a business venture by moving from primary production to a process, adding that government should give production subsidies to the Nigerian farmers.

He also suggested that Nigeria must create an environment that would make banks feel very safe to lend money for agricultural ventures, pointing out that the world over, agriculture offers the best credit portfolio.

Sanusi declared that he was not actually against subsidies as many Nigerians think because ideologically he belongs to the left, explaining that what he is against is giving subsidy to people who import thereby creating jobs in other countries.

He insisted that he is against subsidies on petroleum products because such money should be given to investors to establish local refineries while his opposition to subsidy on fertiliser is because most of the products imported do not meet the need of the farmers as they are given to them late.


http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54474:sanusi-asks-govt-to-protect-local-firms-says-no-free-trade-anywhere-&catid=1:national&Itemid=559

For once, I agree with him. You can't say one right and get two wrong You still destroyed banking with radical revolution without solution,

But he is right about this one,