The Organised Private Sector of Nigeria (OPSN) has chastised the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for creating bureaucratic roadblocks that prevent businesses from accessing the N1 trillion COVID-19 intervention funds set up by the apex bank to stimulate and revamp the economy through structured refinancing and loans.
According to the OPSN, credible information from many firms across the country indicated that the apex bank had limited access to various intervention monies.
Chairman of OPSN, Taiwo Adeniyi, and members of the body spoke at a press conference on the status of the economy, urging the apex bank to complement its efforts by coordinating policies with fiscal authorities in order to provide the economy the essential growth and development.
He encouraged the CBN to evaluate its tactics and minimize the current bureaucratic bottleneck that prevents the cash from being accessed.
He expressed the private sector’s willingness to work with the CBN to guarantee that reputable and genuine enterprises benefit from the fund, stressing that this would make regular impact assessments easier.
While recognizing continued efforts by government at all levels to assure the economy’s survival and development, he stated that more has to be done, and immediately, to ensure the economy’s survival.
He noted that the Nigerian economy was challenged on many fronts and that the teething difficulties might strangle the economy unless vital economic changes and political will were displayed.
The OPSN recommended a combination of fiscal, monetary, and trade policies, as well as political will, to provide the required impetus for tackling economic difficulties and enacting the essential reforms.
The OPSN stated that disruptions in the global economy as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, including lower oil prices and perceived risk in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), among other risks, pose a significant challenge in achieving the economic development goals set forth by the current administration, particularly in lifting about 100 million people out of poverty.
The OPSN called for a deliberate and planned strategy, as well as regular participation of the organized private sector, to address the urgent need to diversify the economy’s revenue source away from crude oil.
The country’s unemployment and underemployment rates are currently at 56.1 percent, according to Adeniyi, which is both alarming and terrifying.
He proposed that the facilitation of a hospitable environment for enterprises to develop and be sustainable be used to combat the high rate of unemployment and provide more jobs for the teeming population.
He advocated for targeted assistance to organized firms in the form of grants and infrastructure development.
He urged the country’s regulatory framework to be reformed so that businesses can thrive rather than be stifled.
The OPSN advised an urgent review of the existing security system to improve its efficacy and responsiveness in order to address the country’s insecurity issues.
The OPSN argued that enough funding for national defense should be granted to reflect the importance of national security.
The group argued that public-private partnerships (PPPs) should be given more attention as a means of addressing massive infrastructure shortages.
The OPSN said that by executing the PPP initiative in the supply of the country’s key infrastructure, quality and long-term jobs would be created, and a desirable number of people would be lifted out of poverty even before the target date of 2030.