The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has disclosed that the Central Bank of Nigeria has so far released about N3 trillion to households, small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs), smallholder farmers, pharmaceutical companies as intervention against the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Emefiele stated that the insinuation that the CBN was going beyond its statutory bounds, was baseless, stating that the apex bank had consistently carried out its monetary management function effectively.
He also restated that the monetary and fiscal authorities were working closely together to provide a stronger economy to Nigerians.
The CBN Governor emphasized that the job of the apex bank’s role was to complement the efforts of the fiscal side, stressing that never in the history of the country had the central bank lend funds for a tenure of 10 years with a two-year moratorium, like the it had done in recent times.
“And I can tell you this, between 2020 and now, our data shows that we have disbursed at least N2 trillion, almost N3 trillion in loans to households, to MSMEs, to smallholder farmers, to pharmaceuticals and health institutions.
“ We have also given these funds to some of our large agricultural companies that want to get back again to business, to manufacturing companies who are accessing long term 10 years loan with two-year moratorium with single digit rate. I have data that shows we are playing our part,” he said.
On the recently launched “100 for 100 “, he noted that it was floated to support employment creation, assuring that the central bank would do everything possible to provide foreign exchange to import plants and machinery.
He added that the programme would complement the plan by President Muhammadu Buhari to create millions of jobs and make credit available at a cheap rate even for a long tenure.
“In terms of the prerequisites, at least 80 per cent of the employees within these new corporate entities would have to be Nigerian,” Emefiele insisted.
He added, “We know that people would like to play some games but I can assure you that the central bank has the resources to monitor.
“Even our current intervention programmes, whether in agriculture or in manufacturing, those who have accessed those facilities will tell you that at least twice a year, our people go to check and investigate to know whether those projects have been set up and are meeting their objective.”
