{"id":43553,"date":"2015-11-09T14:06:42","date_gmt":"2015-11-09T13:06:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=43553"},"modified":"2015-11-09T14:06:42","modified_gmt":"2015-11-09T13:06:42","slug":"nabg-backs-cbn-on-forex-restrictions-defence-of-the-naira","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nabg-backs-cbn-on-forex-restrictions-defence-of-the-naira\/","title":{"rendered":"NABG Backs CBN on Forex Restrictions, Defence of the Naira"},"content":{"rendered":"

-Signs MoU with Dutch Agric Organisation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG), the Agribusiness sector Operators
\nplatform, led by Mr. Sani Dangote, has thrown its weight behind the
\nCentral Bank of Nigeria (CBN)\u2019s foreign exchange restriction policy as
\nwell as the refusal of Bank to devalue the naira as is being suggested by
\ninternational finance institutions and multi-lateral agencies.<\/p>\n

The CBN in the past few months has been under pressure over the decision
\nto ban sourcing of foreign exchange for the importation of 41 items for
\nwhich Nigeria has comparative advantage as well as its resistance to
\ninternational pressure for the devaluation of the nation’s currency.<\/p>\n

The NABG Chairman stressed that his group believes that the CBN forex
\npolicy especially as it affects commodities like tomato puree, rice, palm
\noil and other agric produce is the correct step to save the nation’s
\neconomy from impending crisis and return it to the path of sustainable
\ngrowth.<\/p>\n

Sani Dangote who was part of the panel of discussant \u00fdat the 4th
\nEU-Nigeria business forum in Lagos said: “We commend the Central Bank
\nGovernor, Godwin Emefiele, for taking this bold step. We have companies
\nwho employ thousands of Nigerians, we have small farm holders who will
\nproduce for the country’s need. We cannot do this overnight but it has to
\nstart from somewhere and if the federal government kills the incentive to
\nstart from the grass root level, you can never reach the level to be self
\nsufficient.”<\/p>\n

He said the decision by CBN is the right move required to stimulate local
\nproduction, maintaining that allowing imports would only suppress local
\nproduction.<\/p>\n

\u00fd”If we do not stimulate it now, when will there be the time to do this.
\nOnce you allow some imports to come in and be dumped on the local market
\nit will certainly\u00a0 surpress local incentive and indigenous initiative and
\nthere is no way any investor will deploy\u00a0 resources to develop the sector,
\nthere is no way the local farmers, rural farmers will find the opportunity
\nto grow,” he said.<\/p>\n

In his words: “This is the right step forward, whatever Nigeria has the
\ncapacity to produce must be encouraged to grow, whether we have trillions
\nof dollars in the government coffers or not, the federal government should
\ncontinue with this policy until local capacity is enhanced.”<\/p>\n

He advised that the CBN should make more capital and funding\u00a0 available
\nand affordable for the farmers to grow in order to achieve the nation’s
\nquest for economic diversification, while stating that it was heart
\nwarming that the apex bank recently agreed to provide funds for tomato
\nout-growers in the country toward enhancing their capacity to boost output
\nand meet the requirement of tomato processing companies in the country.<\/p>\n

Dangote then tasked the commercial banks and other financial institutions
\nin the country to support the effort of CBN in funding agricultural
\nenterprises in the country.<\/p>\n

“To do this, there is need \u00fdto empower seed development, empower research
\ndevelopment institutions, enhance mechanization, training for the farmers
\n\u00fdand provide affordable long-term loans for farmers. If these are done, I
\ncan guarantee that in the next year or two, we will see a very high level
\nof change in terms of the capacity to produce,” he said.<\/p>\n

The NABG chairman also noted that\u00a0 the group signed a Memorandum of
\nUnderstanding (MoU) with a Dutch Organisation, Top Sector Agric Food, the
\nagribusiness development unit of the Dutch government, to facilitate and
\nencourage the\u00a0 growth of agribusiness in Nigeria, ranging from livestock
\nto horticulture and other agro-allied industries, pointing out that this
\nmove by the group would expose Nigeria’s agricultural sector\u00a0 to global
\nopportunities while also bringing investment opportunities into the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n

Dangote indicated that the group has entered into similar partnerships
\nwith other foreign organizations, including one with Adepta of France and
\nthe Kenya Agribusiness Group, while stating that plans were afoot for
\nsimilar MoUs to be signed with Irish and UK agribusiness groups.<\/p>\n

“Today, we are looking for ways to improve the nation’s agricultural
\nsector especially with a large population dependent on agriculture. As a
\nwhole, this country cannot really move forward without developing the
\nsector’s potentials. These potentials cannot be valuable if they are not
\nexploited \u00fdto reflect positively on the lives of people and on the
\neconomy,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said the group was invited to the Netherlands to visit many agro-allied
\nindustries, agricultural facilities \u00fdas well as research and development
\ncentres to seek investment opportunities for the nation’s agro-allied
\nsector.<\/p>\n

Also speaking at the event, the Managing Director, Presco Oil Palm Plc,
\nMr. Francis Nwabogu, said \u00fdthe decision by the CBN would at its initial
\nstage be challenging for businesses, but stressed that it would benefit
\nthe economy at large in no distant time.<\/p>\n

“Looking at this decision from the national point of \u00fdview, it is better
\nfor us to cry now and laugh later than to laugh now and cry later. There
\nhave been attempt to go down this route but there have been lobbies to
\nthwart the decision. If we take the bull by the horn, those feeling the
\nhitch now will be better for it in the nearest future,” he said.<\/p>\n

According to the Presco Managing Director, in terms of oil palm
\nproduction, the next five or six years from now<\/span><\/span> with about\u00a0 five or six
\ncompanies planting consistently, a lot of economic activities will be
\ngenerated, thousands of people will be employed, government will earn
\nmore tax revenue and \u00fdit will be a win-win situation for the entire
\ncountry.<\/p>\n

On his part, the Coordinator, NABG, Mr. Emmanuel Ijewere, stressed the
\nneed for Nigeria to take some decisions going forward, saying that Nigeria
\nmust be ready to experience what he called a “short-term suffering” to
\nachieve economic growth and development.<\/p>\n

“We need to take some decisions to achieve what we want going forward. We
\nmust be ready for short-term suffering to be able to achieve economic
\ngrowth and development. Most of the developed economies in the world today
\ndid not go through a pleasurable time all through but sacrificed and
\ntoday, they are benefitting from it. We cannot continue to postpone the
\nsacrifice we have to make. The sacrifice is easier made today because it
\nwill become even more complex next year or in ten years\u2019 time\u00fd,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

-Signs MoU with Dutch Agric Organisation Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG), the Agribusiness sector Operators platform, led by Mr. Sani Dangote, has thrown its weight behind the Central Bank of Nigeria…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nNABG Backs CBN on Forex Restrictions, Defence of the Naira - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/nabg-backs-cbn-on-forex-restrictions-defence-of-the-naira\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NABG Backs CBN on Forex Restrictions, Defence of the Naira - 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