The CBN is doing a wonderful job in the Nigerian monetary sector and remains the most credible financial institution in Nigeria.
An ex-CBN Director of Public Communications, Isaac Okoroafor stated this yesterday during the occasion of 2024 Bankers Week of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, CIBN, Abia State chapter, stating, “That is just to show you that the CBN is doing a wonderful job and no matter what people say about that, the CBN remains the most credible institution in this country”.
If not for the intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN he said, the money market on the country would have been in trouble, stating “If not for the CBN, we will not have an economy today. CBN Is doing its utmost best to ensure that the real sector becomes solid – the money market”.
According to him, “You need to sit down and analyze the economic situation in Nigeria to understand the level of burden the CBN is bearing in Nigeria. If you know that this economy is not producing anything substantial, you will understand why the naira is weak. The strength of the currency is dependent on the ability of the economy to produce and export. If an economy is not producing and exporting, the currency can never be strong.
“So, the CBN is bent to carry the card of lack of perfection by the real sector. The CBN is only reacting to a gap or vacuum of production that has been created by the real sector. It is not an easy thing. Many people talk about the CBN and I keep asking people, ‘assuming you wake up tomorrow and you don’t have a currency to trade with and you can’t even get to your bank and make transfers, how do you survive?’
Okoroafor who also commented on the operating mode of the Point of Sale, POS machines, said, “The CBN cannot be going through people’s bedrooms and beer parlours and everything to check anything. You talk of the POS machines, do you talk of the roads and the bridges. The POS machines depend not just on CBN. but on so many things. What of the switching companies, the telecom networks, you make a transfer, it doesn’t work. It is not the CBN that owns the telecom networks. The CBN is struggling under very strenuous situations to make these things happen.
“On the Nigerian economy, the CBN has achieved so much and that is why you are able to make your transfers and use your POS and all that. It is not easy because, it is dependent on also other technologies that the CBN cannot control.
“So, blaming the CBN is not there. What of our hospitals, are they better? What of educational system, is it better? So, it is a general malaise in the entire society, in the entire economy. The CBN has not done wrong much more than other sectors to promote a sound payment system. To make sure that banks are not failing, despite the economic situation. The CBN should get some credit”.
He advised his former colleagues in the banking sector that they should maintain a very high level of fidelity because, the banking system as a whole depends on fidelity, adding, “You have to be honest, diligent, So, my appeal to my colleagues is to maintain a very high level of fidelity and trustworthiness and diligence”.
According to the Chairman, Abia State Bankers Committee, Olaoba Ayotunde Oladimeji in his keynote address, “Deposit Money Banks are central to the economic stability of Nigeria, and our response to monetary policy dynamics directly impacts the financial wellbeing of businesses and individuals. It is a responsibility that demands our extant adaptability, innovation and commitment to ethical standards. Let us remain steadfast in our resolve to advance the cause of banking, foster financial inclusion, and contribute to the sustainable growth of our nation”.
Earlier, the Planning Committee chairman, Kelechi Adiele said, “This year has been a particularly challenging year because of the seeming economic instability”. Mostly resulting from changes in policies like float of Naira and removal of petroleum subsidy and its collolary effect like inflation and increase in MPR as well as other economic simulations aimed at curbing inflation.
“Bankers have been at the forefront of these economic batties and must raise their heads high for standing up to the occasion even as our dear country and state has begun to witness the envisaged stability ushered by these policies. The IT migration of banks also brought about its peculiar challenges, which we have also conquered”.
In her valedictory address, the outgoing chairman, 2022 – 2024, CIBN Abia State, Lady Princess Chinenye Roseline- Maxwell Ogalabu expressed her happiness on the progress the group has made in the state under her leadership, while the incoming chairman, assured of making the chapter to achieve great things, while in his welcome address,
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