The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has called Nigerians to support the implementation of its Produce, Add Value and Export (PAVE) initiative in view of its benefits to Nigerians and the economy.
Emefiele, who made the call in his opening remarks on Thursday at the ongoing the 32nd Seminar for Finance Correspondents & Business Editors in Akure, Ondo State, described the PAVE as a crucial initiative to the diversification of the nation’s economy and positioning it on the path of sustainable growth.
The CBN Governor, who was represented at the forum by the apex bank’s Deputy Governor, Edward Lametek Adamu, spoke on sundry monetary policy measures by the bank to grow the nation’s economy, especially on the agricultural and real sectors’ interventions, stressing that the Board and management will continue to work towards achieving a fully diversified economy for the country in view of the job creation, foreign exchange earnings, financial system stability, amongst other benefits.
According to him, the PAVE “is expected to make Nigerians consume what they produce, add value to it, and even export the surplus. It is an initiative akin to South-East Asia’s much referenced export-led industrialization policy which changed the economic fortunes of countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore.
“PAVE is designed to be the key for fast-tracking a bucket of substitutes to Crude oil export. It encourages backward integration for the local production of select items.
“Covid-19 pandemic is one of the biggest crises that have faced mankind in recent history. The pandemic impacted economies, and disrupted business activities globally. Expectedly, Nigeria like most commodity-dependent countries was not spared the deleterious impact of the pandemic, given our dependence on crude oil export as a major source of revenue and foreign exchange.
“It is to mitigate against future severe consequences of shocks beyond our control that we must all join hands to ensure the success of PAVE. It is a clarion call to patriotism”, Emefiele added.
He pointed out that despite the headwinds associated with the pandemic, the apex bank had worked very hard to ensure that Nigeria remains a vibrant economy with a diversified mix of opportunities across sectors such as ICT, Manufacturing, Solid Minerals, Trade and Agriculture.
The apex bank governor assured that notwithstanding these modest achievements, the apex bank authorities cannot afford to rest on their oars as the work is far from over.
It would be recalled that CBN Governor had on October 31, 2015 hinted of plans by the apex bank to launch the PAVE policy as part of its efforts to boost the manufacturing and export capacities of industries.
Emefiele gave the hint during his interaction with State House Correspondents after a meeting on the economy with the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He explained: “I’m saying and very soon the CBN will be launching a campaign called PAVE, which means “Produce locally, add value and export your product and earn your foreign exchange for your imports’’ because this is the only way we can support the efforts of CBN in intervening and providing foreign exchange in the market to meet the import needs of our people.
“It is very clear, what we need to do is reduce our propensity to import but we will not depreciate our currency. For now we will not”, Emefiele added.
