The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed that growing a diversified economy that would meet contemporary challenges in a sustainable manner underscored its intervention programmes.
Expressing the apex bank’s commitment to tackling Nigeria’s economic challenges, Governor Godwin Emefiele of the CBN, who was represented by his Corporate Communications Director, Osita Nwanisoba, at the end of a two-day Fair in Asaba, highlighted how some interventions have been helpful.
“CBN is passionate about empowering youths, especially young graduates through various initiatives to support small and medium scale enterprises as well as agricultural support schemes.
“Our various programmes are targeted at youth empowerment and restructuring of the Nigerian economy in order to move it away from its over-dependence on oil revenue.
“The unprecedented rice pyramid witnessed in Abuja, recently and the over 160% rise in the number of rice mills in the country is evidence that the CBN’s intervention in the agriculture sector was yielding fruits.
“There is need for all hands to be on the deck to tackle the economic challenges facing Nigeria,” Emefiele was quoted as saying.
He added that the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) of the apex bank and other development finance interventions greatly helped in mitigating the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic through the various palliatives that Nigerians benefited from.
As reported on BizWatch Nigeria, the ABP has so far gulped N948 billion from the CBN’s purse.
The apex bank made this disclosure, as it stressed the need for insurance cover for farmers under the programme.
“Specifically, under the Anchor Borrowers Programme, we have disbursed N948bn to 4,478,381 smallholder farmers who cultivated 5.2 million hectares of farmland across the country, thereby creating 12.5 million direct and indirect jobs,” a speech quoted Emefiele as saying.
