Mr. Kelvin Dele Oye Esq, National President of Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), in this interview with TAIWO HASSAN, speaks on recalibrating Nigeria’s fragile economy, assessing the works of Federal Government’s inaugurated Presidential Economic Coordinating Council and sundry issues

What is NACCIMA’s stance on the country’s exchange rate volatility, especially with the surging dollar rate against the naira?

This is a critical issue that we need the government to address for us, business operators operating in Nigeria. When you check businesses now, most people are now avoiding going to the banks to save money again because they don’t want you to know the extent of their wealth.

So they keep most of their monies in dollars at home. But you can’t blame them for doing that. So we have to find a way to actually appeal to people not to keep dollars at home when they don’t need to and take it to the banks.

But the current monetary policy regime of the present CBN governor is one of the reasons responsible for that because some policies that have been made maybe, to enhanced transparency in the exchange rate market has back fire given our kind of economy.

So we have to find a way to actually appeal to people not to keep dollars at home when they don’t need to. And the only way you can do that is by stabilising it.

If you want to change at N1000/$ for instance, let us know that in the next one year, it will stay around that so people can now make business decisions. But now, they don’t know whether they can do planning for one week, two weeks, one month!

We don’t run our economy like that you have to give some stability in the exchange rate market.

Is NACCIMA satisfied with the benchmark for interest rate by CBN? Would you affirm the repercussion of this high rate on hurting businesses and investments?

Yes. It is a thing of concern for NACCIMA and everyone in the business community amidst the rising interest rate in the commercial banks.

And that is why it is not enough to just set up committee, there is need to work on the bank rates in the country because the same government is giving interest rate through NEXIMS bank at nine per cent for people that are into export.

The same government is giving loans at Bank of Industry (BoI) at single digit too. So what is wrong with our commercial banks? why can’t they do same? Because it is the same economy.

If we want to compete fairly well, we must bring everyone on board to compete almost to those rates, single digit interest rate. I don’t see why the commercial banks cannot do what the development banks are doing in terms of there interest rates to Nigerians.

We must find a way to inter relate with what they are doing, because the man that went to commercial bank, how do you expect him to cope when that place is the only way he can have access to fund for his business.

Government must look into the rising interest rate our banks are charging and collateral too for us to grow our businesses and contribute meaningfully to our economy.

So government needs to also support what it is doing with policies.

With lots of policies being rolled out by government not making active impacts on the economy, don’t you think it is time the government reviewed its policy formulation by inviting members of the organised private sector in decision making and implementation?

Yes. This is a good question I have always told them those in government that they should review most stakeholders’ engagements at different fora for guidance.

Most times policies are rolled out and there is no stakeholders engagements or better still they call those people whom they regulate during policy formulation. If you call those people whom they regulate they can’t talk and contribute meaningfully.

But if you call people like consumers, people like us, people from different associations so that before you take a decision we go ahead and digest it productively. There is one now, Solid minerals have gotten new rates for their services too.

Everything is going up. The stakeholder is complaining about inflation you can’t talk about inflation rate if you are responsible for it. The Custom rate is a major dollar inflation.

So this inaugurated Presidential Economic Coordinating Council to inject o inject N2 trillion into key sectors of the economy for stabilisation is a good idea and a huge opportunity.

Because we don’t want another situation where senate and merger under the General Yakubu Gowon’s regime, where they have too cash but, they don’t have enough plans to deployed.

So we must really have a good blueprint policy which is transparent that everybody would see we have enough money this is what we should

If we want to compete fairly well, we must bring everyone on board to compete almost to those rates, single digit interest rate.

be discussing now as we have enough people in the midst. But we don’t want to woke up tomorrow that they have set up this factory here and there.

What is your assessment of the contribution of trade exhibitions to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)?

Well, I must say that trade fair is a testament to Nigeria’s role as a hub for commerce and a beacon of opportunity in Africa.

Particularly, trade fair exemplifies that vision by offering a platform where businesses, from large enterprises to emerging startups, can connect, exchange ideas, and forge new pathways to success.

By engaging in trade, sharing innovations, and exploring joint ventures, we not only expand our own reach but also strengthen Nigeria’s economic landscape and influence across Africa and beyond.

The value generated through these connections also aligns with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which opens vast opportunities for increased trade across the continent. Events like this trade fair prepare Nigerian businesses to harness these opportunities, contributing to a collective market with the potential to expand the size of Africa’s economy to $29 trillion by 2050.

So does this mean NACCIMA as a regulatory body of Organised Private Sector (OPS) sees trade fair as a critical tool for AfCFTA networking?

Yeah. AfCFTA provides a huge opportunity for Nigeria’s economic prosperity, especially in job creation, poverty reduction, attracting investments, and boosting its trade relationships with other countries.

NACCIMA is proud to support this platform, which is aimed at fostering economic growth and strengthening Nigeria’s image as a destination for investment and innovation.

Our commitment to advancing sustainable economic development underpins everything we do, from policy advocacy to capacity building and championing the interests of businesses nationwide.

What is your position on independent power project (IPP) by some manufacturing firms in order to stabilise power supply?

In the issue of power which you are talking about, there is a lot of power that is been generated by Nigerian factories here and there. But there is no way to evacuate it.

So there is a huge deficit of infrastructure. I have some of my members that generate about 60-70 mega watt (MW), they just shut it down because there is no way to use it.

They just used it for their products manufacturing and the remain they shut it down. So we need to look at what is already available and how to support those that have already done it, so we can actually bring it into the system where we can use this power. So those are the challenges.

What is your advice to members of Presidential Economic Coordinating Council saddled with the responsibility to stabilise the economy?

The Committee needs to come out with a blueprint as we need to see the blueprint so we can all make impact on it.

As it is now, there is nothing and nobody is aware and we don’t want us to start a project when you don’t tell us where we are going because at least, we can all contribute, so we really really need this help for us to stay competitive.

Most of our businesses are shutting down. We just had our Nigerian Economic Summit Group meeting, where I just have to appealed to them that let formed a committee, because those people that are still around, we should find out what are the issues with them? How can we help them? How can we support them? So we don’t have another closure or another company leaving the country?

You have been talking about the numerous challenges businesses are facing in the country. But how can we close this gap and make these businesses and investments flourish?

The biggest problem in Nigeria is if you have a problem with any agency or agencies there, nowhere you report to.

If I am running a business now and I have a trailer moving from Sokoto to Maiduguri, Borno state or wherever if there is a problem on the road caused by any government of agency, there should be like PEBEC or the Federal Ministry of industry, trade and investment that you can report to immediately because that is affecting trade facilitation that they will immediately make sure the thing is done immediately.

So people are suffering in different ways right now. Our members have come to us and we tried at our level to write letters, engaged different ministries and agencies so that they can removed these bottlenecks.

So these are some of the things that are really causing the challenges. People are operating in an environment that is very hostile and they don’t know who to report to when they have challenges.

So I am not saying that someone is not going to spend money but let the operating environment be much more enabled to support businesses to thrive. Let there be more grants, more support.

Those who have incurred losses, how government can support them with tax and incentives. Take for instance the issue of $2.4 billion which the CBN is still holding that it refuses to release on the forward issue, they should be resolved in an amicable way so that people don’t go to the police station.

By the time they go to the EfCC to report themselves and you are presumed innocent and by our constitution, the EFCC tells you go to the police station and let them give you clearance paper, we all know that nobody that goes to the law enforcement agency you don’t come back complete!

So what I am saying is we need to create an enabling environment where business can thrive. It is not just enough to keep investing, look at the environment.

Like I was talking when I appeared at a retreat organised by the National Assembly recently, I said if you are to make any law now, should we no longer operating as a Nigerians?

Ask about what Rwanda is doing in that their manufacturing sector, is it not laws that will make us more competitive than Rwanda. This is the way we should be thinking now because it is a global thing.

Like that AfCFTA, you must prepare your businesses for that. You cannot just say oh! I am National Assembly lawmaker, I have decided this and that.

Look at what they did in the oil industry and they left because government insisted they want to collect three per cent derivative from the communities.

Where are the people? Where are the houses you want to collect money from? Nothing. So we must operate having a global mindset in us as Nigerian. This is what NACCIMA is saying.

With foreign direct investment, take for example now, we have been able to built a chain network with 117 Chambers of Commerce in all over the world, anytime they made this type of Policy, they write to me and say what do I think? What do we do?

I have to make sure I have more information to respond to some of these inquiries if not, when they write, I don’t know because I still try to reply or trying to get to the agencies that are involved.

What I am saying in all this is let all of us join hands together to build this fragile economy. There are too much work in silos.

A lot of people are doing great things in Nigeria. Look at our creative industry, how it has changed our ecosystem services. So all we need to do is let information be available in a central pool.

And one of the jobs of this committee with the kind of money they are going to spend, they should try to catalyse on potential opportunities that have already exist. They should not go for greenfield projects.

People have done a lot of work. So they just need a little bit of push for them to maximise or at least, increase their capacity so the impacts can be felt within the shortest time with much desires.

Because we still need to stay competitive, we don’t want to end up with what is happening in other countries where they are having challenges, we don’t need it, because those things will be a major distraction.

Because people are going to be affected and sometimes the genuine people are contributing to the situation too.

So we really need to really work hard, we don’t need time for crisis, we need to work together and that is why we are so happy about this policy of government, so let use it as an opportunity to change ourselves positively.

l don’t want something you just throw money at, sometimes it is not money always, it’s planning, policies that can change all these.

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