By Teddy Nwanunobi, Abuja
The inability of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government to dialogue with Niger Delta militants has caused Nigeria the sum of $10 billion since the inception of the Buhari administration.
This was the submission of the chairman, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Atedo Peterside, who was a guest speaker at the 14th Daily Trust Dialogue in Abuja on Thursday.
The theme was: ‘Beyond Recession: Towards a resilient Economy’.
Speaking at the event, Peterside urged the Federal Government to give adequate incentives to the oil-producing communities for the sake of oil production.
“The present administration’s inability to reach a truce with the Niger Delta militants is a wrong step. Three previous successive government’s ended up brokering these deals.
“The failure by the present government to broker a piece deal with the Niger Delta militants have cause the nation over $6 billion per annum.
“Communities must be adequately incentivised to keep oil production on going peacefully,” he said.
Speaking on the Central Bank’s foreign exchange policies, Peterside noted that the ‘no restrictions’ placed on forex repatriation have hindered forex in flows into the country.
“The search for an economic policy must end now, since we are in dire economic crisis. There is also a reluctance on the part of the present administration to break away from the past, and embrace economic reforms.
“In my opinion, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) must accept that its foreign exchange policies have failed. The ‘no restrictions’ they have placed on forex repatriation, the less likely it has hindered the badly needed forex in flows into the country.
“The CBN directive to banks to allocate 60 percent of forex to manufacturers, who account for only 10 percent of GDP, has worsened an already bad supply situation. Forty percent is too small to accommodate the rest of the economy, and so all other sectors have been crippled, including the service sector, which accounts for over 50 percent of GDP, and this has sent the parallel market to the high heavens.
“Forex in flows disappeared partly because of the uncertainty and inability to repatriate dividends through an un barely restrictive 60 percent, and it has huge adverse implication on the supply side,” he said.
He further explained that the end result has made investor’s to flee from the country.
“Sadly, we have shot ourselves in the foot by taking unsustainable actions, and denying huge forex in flows on the service sector, while favouring even the manufacturers that own ‘zombee’ industries,” he added.
