21st Century Nigerian Businesspeople

"We are borrowing the Timbuktoo to describe this initiative because we are looking at Africa from the past to the future."

"The threat to CBN autonomy is also disturbing. Global best practice prescribes central banks’ independence to enhance policy coherence and sturdiness born out of freedom of vision and implementation space."

"Then, there is the issue of monetary and fiscal policy coordination. Non- harmonization of monetary and fiscal policies is an issue of serious concern in the country because they complement each other. Monetary policy has a limit and whenever it reaches that limit, the only way out is for the fiscal authorities to intervene in the economy. So, in the absence of such coordination/harmonization between the two, a serious economic problem may arise."

"Nigeria needs to deepen its financial sector as a whole. Deepening the financial sector entails improving financial structures to ensure efficient delivery of financial services to the private sector."

"Financial illiteracy results in poor financial inclusion. Non-financial inclusion becomes a threat to the survival of the Nigerian financial sector as most adults and young Nigerians are financially excluded from the formal financial sector. A high percentage of adult Nigerians don’t have bank accounts, and this in the long run becomes a big headache for central banking."

"Poor financial literacy is another. It is only when the vast majority of the Nigerian population is financially literate that they can participate in the formal financial system; the reverse is the case."

"The challenges are many. Oil price volatility and the unstable global environment are major challenges for Central Banking in Nigeria as they are causing growth challenges and other spill-over effects for the local economy. Central Banking in Nigeria is faced with other enormous challenges such as the size of Nigeria’s informal sector. Globally, developing/emerging economies are characterized by a big informal sector which causes a lot of limitations to Monetary Policy implantation and coverage because a majority of the participants in the sector are not using formal financial services and so cannot be captured formally."

"It is also expected that the fiscal authorities would provide direction and leadership while the monetary authorities would facilitate an enabling business environment conducive for growth. Nonetheless, the overriding mandate of the Bank continues to be price stability across the major price rates: inflation; loan interest; and foreign exchange. Stability in prices is essential for investment and consumption. Monetary policy can help through influencing short-term interest rate, but monetary policy alone is not enough to pull the country out of recession. Fiscal policy must come in and do its part to fully pull the economy out of recession."

"Taking these factors together, the effect on the Nigerian economy has been the significant decline in the country’s foreign reserves, depreciation of the Naira and substantial increase in consumer prices. To reverse the trend and put the economy back on a path to economic recovery, significant effort is needed on the part of the Federal Government, especially harmonization of its fiscal and monetary policies to boost aggregate demand and investor confidence."

"Nigeria’s economic recession can be traced to a number of global and domestic factors. They include slump in commodity prices, general slowdown in economic activity in developing countries, over dependency on oil, lack of diversification of the revenue base, consumption-led growth, militancy in the Niger-Delta region, insurgency in the North East and unutilized excess liquidity in the banking system."

"A number of fiscal and monetary policy options have been deployed to end the recession and the efforts are yielding fruits as the recently released inflation figure shows that inflation is trending down after 15 months stretch of rising price level. The CBN is also working to increase supply of foreign exchange and boost liquidity in the interbank market to ease the scarcity of foreign exchange for the manufacture of goods and increase the level of production. On the part of the fiscal authority, efforts at broadening the revenue base and increasing the collection of taxes have been intensified and are yielding fruits."

"In 2016, the Nigerian economy officially entered into recession, recording two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth rates of 0.36 per cent and 2.06 per cent in the first and second quarters, respectively. For the full year of 2016, the real GDP contracted by 1.51 per cent. Achieving price stability has remained the priority objective of most central banks. However, given the high level of poverty and unemployment in most developing countries, it has become imperative for central banks to work hard at achieving price stability with growth."

"The best way to ensure the desired economic growth and low inflation is economic diversification with a broadening of the revenue base. Reducing the import dependency will also help to curb the demand for dollar; thereby reducing general inflationary pressure."

"The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries in 2008 recommended the imposition of some form of capital controls that at least restrain inflows of short-term funds, which the CBN has done. The CBN will also do well to stick to its statutory mandate of maintaining price stability for growth. This will go a long way in moderating inflation and stimulating growth in the long run."

"For Nigeria, like most developing countries, policy has often times focused on the flexible exchange rate regime and financial integration, emphasizing monetary policy independence. However, as globalization, capital flows constraints and other adverse phenomena set in, it has become imperative to seek a convergence."

"Key global trends such as Brexit, the rising wave of populist and anti-globalization sentiments anchored by emerging bilateralism, divergent monetary policy stance of the advanced central banks and disorderly commodity price movements will also affect monetary policy at home. These global developments coupled with domestic factors will make monetary policy management very difficult this year. Based on these, monetary policy management in Nigeria must be diligent and collaborative to achieve its objectives of price stability in the home front."

"Monetary policy management has been made difficult by the uncertain global environment, arising from political and economic developments around the world. There has been an intense attack on free trade, multilateralism and globalization and the situation has not been helped by a growing preference for nationalist interest."

"The inflationary pressure could be traced largely to structural factors, which included poor electricity supply, high cost of energy arising from scarcity of petroleum products, increase in the prices of imported food, raw materials and finished goods, seasonal factors, increase in electricity tariff, insurgency and insecurity in the North East, as well as pipeline vandalism by the Niger Delta militants. However, some monetary factors included exchange rate depreciation, and budget deficits in the face of dwindling oil revenues."

"The monetary policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria in recent times has continued to focus on achieving price and financial stability for economic growth and development. The persistent inflation in the last one year is an issue of concern."

"In recent years, academics and policymakers have shown increasing interest in the independence of central banks with respect to the formulation of monetary policy. In the European Union, this interest was realized in the Maastricht Treaty, which gave the European Central Bank complete autonomy in conducting the monetary policy without political intrusion. Most empirical studies support central banks’ autonomy in the conduct of day-to-day monetary policy operations devoid of political pressure. This enables them to deliver better inflation outcomes, without compromising economic growth. The CBN Act of 2007 bestows independency on the Bank."

"The independence of the Central Bank is necessary. The Bank needs the freedom and space to take a long view of what is best for the economy and take decisions accordingly. Central Banks have consistently moved towards policy independence to pursue policies free from political interference. Although no central bank can be entirely independent of government’s influence, it must be free to choose the instruments it needs to achieve its mandate. The Bank must also be free from fiscal dominance; that is a situation where fiscal considerations unduly dictate monetary policy."

"The exercise paralysed activities at the apex bank."

"I think for me, that was a low point. The credibility for this institution was eroded. For an institution this important to be subjected to that is bad. At the end of the day, it was not just the CBN that suffered for it, but the economy as a whole did suffer."

"We went for the IMF meetings and when we met with investors, they asked us: ‘what is happening? We understand that there was some financial mismanagement in the CBN.’ It was humiliating."

"Throughout my period at the bank, I have one slight regret and that’s during the period I was acting governor. It was the time that the CBN was being investigated. It has never happened before that the activity of the CBN is under investigation."

"The experience was humiliating for her and the entire management of the bank, said it was the first time that the bank would be investigated in its entire history."

"So I want to encourage us that whatever we need to do, let us do it right. We must not subject this institution to that type of incident again."

"The future of the Nigerian economy is very bright. The Economic Growth and Recovery Plan (ERRP) by the Federal Government with other complementary policies are set to propel the Nigerian economy out of the recession and move the economy forward. The broad government strategy of infrastructure development, structural reforms and investment in social safety nets are policies that will position the economy to a more inclusive and diversified growth."

"Only the dead have seen the end of the world."

"if I saw challenges in the past, it has changed and I can tell my own stories my own way and produce my own works."

"I do not see any challenges in being a plus-size."

"Motherhood is the best thing that can happen to any woman."

"" It’s not that the roles come in every time, but once I grab that role, I deliver""

"" I think passion makes you want to have only the best.""

"Co-working spaces are important for the development of the young tech ecosystem in Nigeria."

"A Co-working space operator cannot be a Real Estate manager; co-working spaces need to be managed by people interested in collaboration with, and growth of, the tech ecosystem."

"IF WE DON'T TRY TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF GENDER INEQUALITY, NOBODY IS GOING TO SOLVE IT FOR US."

"The digital transformation of Africa is no longer a luxury or a nice-to-have. It has become a necessity; a necessity spawned in fact by Africa’s developmental agenda setters. This is because none of our documented aspirations - the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Agenda 2063 – the Africa we want, Africa Continental Free Trade Area, Boosting Intra Africa trade, the Single African Air Transport Market can be achieved without significant advancements in information and communication technology."

"The narrative and hype that we hear about digital transformation is again being largely fueled by what people see. And what do they see – they see the tremendous opportunity and potential that is before us to truly transform this continent through digital technology."

"About 50% of Africans own a mobile phone; another 15- 20% who do not own a mobile phone have access to one, making the mobile phone access rate about 65-70%. Arising from this is a paradox: more Africans have access to mobile phones than to pretty much anything else that they really need – only 28% of Africans have access to financial services, only 33% have access to power through their home country’s national grid and only 31% have access to decent sanitation."

"Africa doesn’t have enough software developers, network and communication engineers, data analysts, data scientists and even the few that we have are looking for the next opportunity to board a plane to Canada, Germany or whichever country is the highest bidder for the world class skills that they possess."

"It is not enough to say that women are less likely to own a phone or be connected to the internet than men, which is by itself a serious problem of gender inclusion that needs addressing."

"The goal of universal access requires several billions of dollars to be invested in the expansion and improvement of digital infrastructure across Africa. African governments need to make it easier for both private and public capital to be deployed to finance the expansion of internet/digital infrastructure. All African countries must have a coherent, well-articulated and documented broadband plan that provides the public and private sector with clear guidelines and a roadmap to sector development and gives mobile network operators and other infrastructure providers the legal and regulatory certainty that promotes investments."

"Africa needs to prioritize the funding of institutes of middle and higher learning that focus on the development of STEM skills and ensure that the curriculum for these courses are aligned with the needs of companies in the market."

"There are 1 billion Africans and the continent’s median age is 19.4 years, both of which suggest there is a larger demographic pool of potential STEM students and eventually, professionals, in Africa than in most other continents."

"Technology is a very important part of innovation as it brings new ways of doing old things and new ways of doing new things."

"“Building a greater nation requires all hands to be on deck. Women want to be partners and collaborators on this journey and we cannot behave if we are excluded by law, cultural practices and norms.”"

"“I don’t have pressure of any kind, I do my work the way I should”."

"I’ve lived a life that’s full I’ve traveled each and every highway. But more, much more than this I did it my way”"

"All your hard work will never be in vain, especially if your work is clean."