Northern Chamber Of Commerce Backs Introduction Of N5000 Note

Chairman, Conference Of Northern States Chamber Of Commerce, Industry, Mines And Agriculture (CONSCCIMA), Malam Ahmad Rabiu

DESPITE criticisms that have been trailing the proposed introduction of a new N5,000 note by the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Conference of Northern States Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture CONSCCIMA, weekend threw its weight behind it.

Speaking with newsmen, Chairman of the Conference, Alhaji Ahmad Rabiu said rather than N5,000 note, it should be N10,000 or N20,000, just as he stressed that cashless society has nothing to do with currency.

Rabiu who noted that the economy of the north has suffered greatly with high level of underdevelopment  and the rising wave of organised violence which continues to cripple its economy, said CONSCCIMA was putting in place the second edition of the Northern Nigeria Economic and Investment Summit, NEIS.
According to him, if any meaningful development must take place in the north, there was the need for a  partnership between the public and private sector, lamenting the absence of strong partnership of the Governors of the northern states with the private sector in the 2008 summit which he said created a great challenge in implementing recommendations of the summit.

Rabiu also expressed regret that the region which is inhabited by over 60 per cent of the population and occupies 65 per cent of the country’s landmass is also the region with the poverty ratio of over 70 per cent of the population.

According to him,  “statistics that has been released by various experts has it that as at 2008, Northern Nigeria had ownership and control of only three per cent of banking assets in Nigeria, two per cent of insurance assets and 10 per cent of industrial assets.

Out of a total of 602 microfinance bank licences (provisional and final) issued by CBN, northern Nigeria including FCT had 149 or 24.75 per cent.

“In the 2006 UME applications statistics from JAMB, Abia state with a population of 2, 833, 990 had 42, 693 applications to Nigerian universities, while Sokoto state with a population of 3, 696, 999 had only 2, 944 applicants or less than seven per cent of applicants from Abia with a lower population.

“In the agricultural sector which is northern Nigeria’s strongest economic department, experts believe the Sahara Desert is moving southwards at a rate of 0.6 km yearly. This has resulted in a situation where about 35 per cent of land that was cultivatable 50 years ago is now desert in 11 states of northern Nigeria.”

He said that the cumulative effect of such statistics is that the region was no longer in a position to compete economically with other parts of Nigeria, adding, ‘’In fact, the double jeopardy that we currently face is that while our agricultural and solid minerals sectors are not receiving the required investments thereby compromising our future sources of revenue, we are also not modernizing and upgrading our infrastructure including investments in education.”

The Council Chairman disclosed that the  conference which comprises of the Chambers of Commerce in the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory, also expressed dismay at the inability of the private and public sectors in the region to implement the major recommendations reached at the maiden edition of the summit in 2008.

‘’As part of our efforts to promote the private sector-led economic development in northern Nigeria, the Council and members of CONSCCIMA have agreed to organise the second edition of the Northern Nigeria Economic and Investment Summit NEIS to build on the obvious success of and close the observed gaps identified at the first edition.”

He said that the summit is conceptualized to provide a platform for a robust discourse on peace as a recipe for economic growth and development, adding that aside defining the strategic role of the region as a stakeholder in the National Transformation Agenda, the summit will also review the economy of northern Nigeria in the light of current national and global economic trends.

He noted that ‘’the NEIS 2012 is about rebirth, revival and reinvention of the north as a region and how it fits into the transformation agenda of the Federal Government.

‘’For any meaningful sustainable development to take place in the region, there must be a strong partnership between the public sector as represented, in this case by the governors of the northern states and the private sector as represented by CONSCCIMA”, he stated, adding that the lack of strong partnership in the 2008 summit created a great challenge in implementing recommendations of the summit.

The summit which will hold in Minna, Niger state between October 15 and 16 would be used to diagnose the socio-economic challenges of the region against existing global realities and consequently develop a blueprint that would lead to the accelerated development of the region.