John Shiklam in Kaduna
The pan-Northern socio-political organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has said the high interest rate under the current regime will kill the Nigerian economy if nothing is done to arrest the situation.
Ogbeh, a former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the country has witnessed the most outrageous interest rate that any developing country can endure for the past three decades.
The National Chairman of the ACF, Chief Audu Ogbeh, expressed this concern in a statement yesterday, though congratulated President General Muhammadu Buhari on his presentation of the 2022 budget estimates.
Ogbeh said the situation was worrisome and cautioned that unless and until something pragmatic is done, the Nigerian economy won’t experience real growth.
The ACF chairman said: “I congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari for his presentation of the budget estimates of the 2022 fiscal year.
“The Forum appreciates the desire and commitment of his administration to take steps to expand and concretise the infrastructure base without which economic growth will be a mirage.
“We also want to commend government on the new onslaught on bandits and criminals nationwide.
‘We are however worried that that no mention was made of the problem of interest rate was made.
“For nearly three decades, we have endured the most outrageous interest rates that any developing country can endure.
“How can we continue to pay lip service to the vital issue of the growth of SME’s Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, the prosperity of the younger generation if we make it impossible for them to access credit.
“We appreciate the efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) but we regret to say those efforts will not solve the problem when commercial banks are still charging 27-30 per cent. What kind of business will anybody do with such interest rates?
“We wish to caution that unless. Until we hurriedly establish a mechanism to deal with the current national tragedy where our children have resolved that the fastest way to their personal economic recovery is kidnapping, we think that the Nigerian economy cannot experience real growth if access to reasonable credit remains forever blocked,” the forum said in a statement.
