Diversify the economy to curb hardship- CBN tells FG

By ORIH CHIBUIKE, The Nigerian Voice, Abuja
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The Central Bank of Nigeria says Nigeria needs to come to terms with the current economic hardship facing it and begin to look for ways to increase non oil revenue.

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele who said this while speaking at an Advocacy Workshop on the Economic Implications of Recent CBN policies organized by a Coalition of Civil Society Groups, held in Abuja, noted that the current drop in oil price will continue until 2017, this is as he insists that the only way out of the present predicament was to diversify the economy.

Emefiele, who was represented by the Director, Financial, CBN, Emmanuel Ukeje said that "the current CBN policy on foreign exchange is for the good of the Nation's economy as,there was no way the nation can grow when importers of commodities that are locally produced in the country are given foreign exchange by the Central Bank to compete with local producers.

Similarly, the Coalition of Civil society group has called on the federal government to take steps in diversifying the economy with emphasis on solid mineral sector.

The President of the Group, Etuk Bassey Williams in his address commended the Buhari administration for reducing the over bloated cost of governance but stressed that, just that will not be enough to tackle the enormous economic challenges presently confronting the country.

Mr Bassey-williams stated that "if the solid mineral sector is properly harnessed is capable of generating in excess of what is currently being generated from crude oil".

"Having failed as a country to learn from past mistakes due to our inability to diversify the country's economy, ensure savings and prudent management of resources, Nigeria is once more grappling with its share of the aftermath of the oil price decline".

He added that priority should be giving to the growth of small and medium scale industries,which remain the engine of the growth of any economy.