By Oludamisi Ojo.
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr. Godwin Emefiele, has said the federal government has disbursed a total of N948 b to 4,478,381 smallholder farmers to boost food production in Nigeria.
He said apart from encouraging farming, the lofty programme had generated an aggregate of 12.5 million direct and indirect jobs for the Nigerian youth.
Emefiele spoke at the Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, on Monday, while presenting a convocation lecture titled: ‘The Role of Central Bank in Managing Economic Downturns’, to mark the 40th anniversary of the university.
The CBN Governor also said under the credit facility to help households and businesses that suffered significant losses during the pandemic, the bank had disbursed N368.79 billion to 778,000 beneficiaries.
Emefiele said 648,052 households and owners of Small and Medium Enterprises benefited from the federal government-driven policy.
He said: “As you all know, one of the major challenges facing the Nigerian economy is over-reliance on revenues and foreign exchange earnings from the sale of crude oil, even though petrol represents just 10 percent of our GDP.
“Moreso, the non oil sector , particularly agricultural and manufacturing sectors, which contributes about 30 and 13 percent to our GDP have been confronted with low investments , inadequate credit to real sector and weak infrastructure.
“Furthermore, with an annual population growth rate of 2.8 percent , it was important that all efforts were made available for Nigerians, particularly in sectors that had the potentials to absorb youth. We were aware that if necessary support was given to households and business , productivity will rise and and investment will flow into our economy”,
According to the CBN governor, the current economic downturn and hardship in the system on the economic recession of 2015-2017 and the Covid 19 pandemic that ushered In a revenue drop and reduction in foreign investment portfolio.
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The EKSU Vice Chancellor, Prof Edward Olanipekun, described the 40 years of the establishment of the university as impactful in the life of the state.
He said the university has been a reliable training ground for the future leaders.
Olanipekun noted that though the university is experiencing some challenges as a human institution, assuring that no effort will be spared to keep the flag flying in its resolve to be a good citadel of learning for Nigerians.
The Chairman of the occasion and Catholic Bishop of Ekiti Diocese, Most Reverend Felix Ajakaye, urged the governments to be more pragmatic in the implementation of some of their policies for them to be impactful on the citizenry.
