The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday
unfolded policies to reduce hardship of Nigerians
and the current economic recession.
The apex bank assured that government and the
apex bank were aware of the prevailing tough
economic climate, assuring that the situation
would soon be overcome.
CBN’s Acting Director, Corporate Communications,
Isaac Okoroafor said at a fair organised for small
and medium scale enterprises, artisan, farmers,
banks, hairdressers, barbers, shoemakers and
other business groups in Enugu, that N220 billion
funds made available for Micro Small and Medium
Enterprises (MSMEs) could be easily accessed.


Okoroafor said 60 per cent of the funds were
meant for women and women-owned enterprises.
He revealed that some states had already
accessed the funds to the tune of N2 billion.
According to him, the CBN also has the
Commercial Agric Credit Scheme (CACS) for larger
commercial farmers.
Also, Okoroafor explained, “If you are a serving
corps member and you want to get into business,
you can get as much as N3 million to start as an
entrepreneur. What happens is that you are not
required to provide any collateral because we
discovered that collateral is the problem. Your
degree or HND certificate will serve, as your
collateral because we know it is an asset in which
you have made investment. So, just surrender it,
and that is all.”

On other policies to help stabilise the economy,
Okoroafor said: “Look at rice for instance, 28 out
of 36 states can produce rice, so, we have
launched a programme called Anchor Borrowers
Programme. It is not only on rice but also on
tomatoes, palm produce and other farm produce.”
He maintained government couldn’t continue to
allocate scarce foreign reserves on goods that we
can produce locally. Some, which Nigeria even has
comparative advantage.
Okoroafor said this informed the decision of
government to ban 41 items, which Nigerians
should stop importing. This was borne out of a
genuine desire to place the economy on the path
of recovery.
Also, professor of economics, Prof. Ukwu I. Ukwu,
has said if successive administrations had
implemented the report of the Vision 2020
committee, it would have put the country in a
better shape.
In an interview with The Guardian, Ukwu advised
the President Buhari administration to go back to
the Vision 2020 report, stressing that it had
answers to most economic challenges facing the
country.

Ukwu said “The governance section of about 22
groups, which I coordinated as part of the Vision
2020 was most fascinating because it covered the
entire spectrum of the country, because there is a
linkage between governance and economy.”

Share This: