Mooting border closure for at least two years, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, says it will decimate insurgency, banditry and kidnapping in the country.
“I can tell you that if our borders remain closed for two years, the issue of Boko Haram, kidnapping, banditry and ‘Yahoo-Yahoo’ will stop,’’ the CBN boss said on Friday.
He spoke at the 1st Convocation Lecture of Edo University, Iyamho, Auchi in a lecture entitled,“The Role of Monetary Policy towards Economic Growth in Nigeria.”
According to Emefiele, the border closure is antidote to the nation’s security challenges.
If the youth who are in these vices are gainfully engaged in meaningful activities, insecurity will reduce to the barest minimum, he said.
The governor promised that the apex bank would not allow the country to be used as a “dumping ground for smuggling goods’’.
“CBN will promote this policy by making sure that we produce what we consume and eat what we produce.’’
On the appeals by neighbouring countries for the reopening of the borders, Emefiele decried their actions, saying some neighbouring countries were not helping matters.
He noted:“Instead of some neighbouring countries to develop policies to grow their own economies, they engage in things that undermined the Nigerian economy.’’
The governor said when Nigeria increased import duty on rice to discourage importation, neighbouring countries reduced their own duties to flood their markets with imported rice which in turn were smuggled into Nigeria.
“We no longer want what they are importing to our country because we can produce them and CBN will do everything possible to promote domestic products,” he said.
Emefiele, however, urged youths and adults to go into agriculture, noting it is one of the major ways to grow the economy.
Author
Leave a comment