In an attempt to revive Nigeria's economy, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emediele, disclosed to the media his agenda for the next five years. According to him, the 2004 recapitalisation undertaken by former CBN Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo has weakened, substantially.
According to his words reads “In the next five years, we intend to pursue a program of recapitalising the Banking Industry so as to position Nigerian banks among the top 500 in the world. Banks will, therefore, be required to maintain a higher level of capital, as well as, liquid assets in order to reduce the impact of an economic crisis on the financial system"
The record has it that, it was Governor (Chukwuma) Soludo, in 2004 who did the last recapitalisation Nigeria had.
Moving the capitalisation from N 2 billion to N 25 billion.
The effort was commended because it resulted in positioning Nigerian banks, not only in Africa but to become among top banks in the world, in terms of capitalisation.
It also increased the strengthening of the banks to take on large transactions and those are the things they direly needed.
Emifiele added that, in view of the current economic realities, the capitalisation has weakened quite substantially and there is a need for us as a nation, to say it is time for us to recapitalise Nigerian banks again.
The apex bank will closely with the fiscal authorities to ensure stable macro-economic stability, double-digit growth, single-digit inflation and greater access to finance for businesses to thrive not only for the foreign investors but to encourage the local investors.
According to Emefiele, the apex bank will continue to defend the naira within the next five years as there are no plans to float the naira. This according to the CBN Governor, will reduce the impact that exchange rate volatility could have on Nigeria's economy.
