Cardoso Pledges Conducive Atmosphere For Foreign Investments

Following his confirmation as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Olayemi Cardoso has said that the CBN will do all within its statutory functions to address identified distortions and ensure a conducive atmosphere for different categories of investors.  He gave the assurance in his office on Thursday, when a group of investors paid him a courtesy visit, noting that under his leadership, the new management team at the Bank will do its best to tackle the impediments to liquidity in the foreign exchange market in Nigeria. While disclosing plans to formally unveil his agenda for the monetary and financial sector in the days ahead, Mr. Cardoso stressed the importance of credibility and transparency in implementing the Bank’s monetary policy. To achieve this, he said the Bank would focus on strengthening its data-gathering system to ensure that only verifiable data will be relied upon for evidence-based decisions. According to him, the CBN would also adhere to rules that are known, acceptable and transparent for the conduct of monetary policy. Speaking further on liquidity management, he said his team had a short-term goal of addressing structural issues within the financial system that gave rise to the liquidity challenge in the first instance.  On the relationship between the monetary and fiscal authorities, the new CBN Governor said there would continue to be consensus between both authorities to harmonise their positions on the interest rate and inflation. He, however, said the Bank would remain open to different views in its push for greater transparency. Meanwhile, Mr. Cardoso said the Bank would only provide strategic policy support to critical sectors of the economy while allowing experts to take charge of such critical sectors, given that the expertise lies within other relevant agencies.  In their remarks, the investors, led by Mrs. Ireti Samuel-Ogbu, said they were at the CBN to discuss ways of strengthening collaboration to boost foreign investment in Nigeria. The group also emphasised issues around the Bank’s independence and the need to grow the country’s foreign exchange reserve, among other issues.

I’m sad GSK is leaving Nigeria after 51 years- Peter Obi

The Labour Party Presidential Candidate in the 2023 election, Mr Peter Obi, has decried the exit of Pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), from Nigeria after 51 years of operations. Obi, who is also aformer Governor of Anambra State, made this known in his official tweets handle on Saturday morning in Lagos. On Thursday, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a British pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, said in the coming months, it plans to exit Nigeria after 51 years of operations. Its Spokesperson, Omongiade Ehighebolo, said in a statement that the challenge in accessing currency was affecting its ability to maintain a consistent supply of medicines and vaccines in the market. GSK has a manufacturing facility in Agbara, on over 25 hectares of land. The company had directly employed no fewer than 400 highly technical workers including pharmacists, microbiologists, biochemists, chemists, dentists, and doctors just to mention, and also employed over 1000 other staff. Obi said the company that indirectly provided jobs and business opportunities for thousands of Nigerians across the nation, regretted that it was now leaving all these behind, and pushing more people back into unemployment. The LP standard bearer said that their reason for leaving portends a gloomy future for the country’s investment climate. He said: “Today, I was saddened to hear that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), is exiting Nigeria after 51 years of operations. “Their reason for leaving Nigeria is even more disheartening, that they are no longer perceiving any future growth of the country, which will be anchored on productivity.” He said it was painful that the country was at the point in the nation’s journey where multinationals were leaving the country and the local ones were closing down. Obi added that this was the consequence of poor management of the economy, hence, millions were losing their jobs and the poverty index was worsening. He said these multinationals leaving the country, not only create jobs but create immeasurable training that contributed immensely to human capital development. The LP standard bearer recalled his consistent position that “in turning the nation around, it must move the economy from consumption to production. According to him, part of this includes encouraging and supporting local and foreign investments, like GSK, in the country. Obi finally stressed the importance of creating an environment that creates and sustains multinationals to invest in the country was key to the dream of greatness. He said in the new Nigeria that they seek to create, the emphasis on production would encourage investors to stay and expand on its shores.