Emefiele Calls For Increased Global Investments In Nigeria, Africa

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele has called for support of foreign investors for Nigeria and other countries in Africa urging that they make the continent their choice investment destination.

This is as the apex bank released an exposure draft of the guidelines for the regulation of representative offices of foreign banks in Nigeria.

Emefiele while speaking during the EuroKnowledge award conferred on him by FIN Banking on Emerging Markets Forum on the sidelines of the ongoing International Monetary Fund/World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington DC noted that business confidence in the continent is on the rise.

The CBN Governor who listed Nigeria, Angola, South Africa and Egypt as the biggest economies in Africa said these amongst others are countries that investors should consider.

“Today, we talk about the frontier market and what I keep telling people is that as you continue thinking about growth opportunities in the world and you are looking at Africa, naturally you will have to think about some of the big economies in Africa.

“Nigeria, Angola, South Africa and Egypt are economies that you would need to think about. And I dare say these economies hold a lot of strong opportunities with opportunities for high yields and profitable projects and I can only seize this opportunity to encourage our friends in the foreign investment community to continue to take a look at Africa. Africa years for growth and development.

“We cannot do this alone; we will continue to need the support of the rest of the world. But I can assure all of us that as you do this, the opportunities are there and you will not regret taking the opportunities.

“The opportunities are there I can only continue to say let’s give the support to Africa let’s give the support to Nigeria. We should all continue to work together for the growth, not just for our individual countries but for Africa as a whole,” the CBN governor added.

Commenting on the awards, the CBN governor dedicated it to his colleagues at the CBN as well as other Nigerians for their support.

“When your credentials and all you have done is being read out to the public, you begin to wonder how you managed to do all this. But what this does is to encourage you to do more.

“When we talk about the challenges that we are currently facing, I can tell you that it hasn’t been easy in the last eight and half years, where we have gone through two recessions.

“One between 2015 and 2016 and another short-lived one in the second and third quarter 2021 during the period of Covid-19.

“Usually as the Governor of a Central Bank of Nigeria, you never pray to go through a recession twice but we have managed to go through this with a lot of hard work and support from our colleagues at the CBN, all our departments and members of our monetary policy meeting. We really want to thank all of you.

“This award is not just for me, it is meant for all of us who have worked hard in the last eight and half years to keep Nigeria strong. To keep the Nigerian economy strong and going.”

Meanwhile, the guidelines for foreign banks were contained in a CBN circular dated October 12, 2022 and signed by Chibuzo Efobi, director, financial policy and regulation department.

An exposure draft is a document published by regulators of financial institution like the CBN, to solicit public comments on proposed regulations.

The recent circular was addressed to stakeholders, the general public, particularly the representative offices of foreign banks.

A representative office of a foreign bank in Nigeria is a liaison office of the foreign bank licensed by the CBN, whose sole object is to market the products and services of its foreign parent as well as serve as liaison between its foreign parent and local banks, other financial institutions, private companies and the general public.