The Central Bank has never been one institution to shy away for criticising bad policy. Recently the Deputy‑ Governor (Operation), Mr. Tunde Lemo was at the Egba Economic Summit in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital where he gave a speech centred around why Nigeria has not developed. Whilst we all have reasons why the country continues to be in an under developed states, ascertains coming from the Apex bank cannot go unnoticed. Here is what he said’
In spite of the impressive macro economic performance, it did not translate into development as unemployment is still huge. The challenges are that Nigeria’s development is over-dependent on oil, with high inflation, huge import bills, and high level corruption. National unemployment statistics shows that the population size is 164 million and people between 15 and 35 years are 60 per cent while youth unemployment of Nigeria workforce is 30 per cent. Unemployment in rural areas is 23 per cent and unemployment in urban areas is 17 per cent, unemployment growth rate per annum is 16 per cent.
The CBN has pumped N300 billion in power and airline intervention fund and another N200 billion in commercial agriculture credit scheme with a view to boosting the economy. Unfortunately this too hasn’t created the desired impact.
