Chike Obi calls for economic, unemployment emergency in Nigeria

THE Asset Management Company Limited (AMCON) has announced that the sale of the three nationalized banks would commence in June 2014. According to the Chief Executive Officer of AMCON, Mustapha Chike Obi, Enterprise bank would be sold by June while Mainstream would follow subsequently in October this year.

Chike Obi, while speaking at the Hallmark Public Lecture Forum in Lagos yesterday explained that the process is still on-going, adding that at least two, out of the three banks would be sold this year.

“There are many people interested in buying the banks and we would sell them as soon as the process is completed.  We would make sure it is done properly, at least two of the will be sold this year. The first one in June and the next one would follow in October and Enterprise would come first before Mainstream. The Keystone bank would come third because there was a management change in the bank after a year and we need to give more time to correct the bank.” He said.

Speaking on the theme; ‘Emerging Market Challenges and the Imperatives of Economic Reforms’, the AMCON boss who submitted that the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company needs over N2 trillion capital to operate effectively as against the N100billion earmarked for the recapitalization of the industry, also identified lack of capital, parlous infrastructure and unemployment as the major problem facing the economy.

He decried the high level of unemployment in Nigeria, noting that for Nigeria to become one of the top 20 economies in the world, it must be capable of growing by 15 per cent and creating about six million jobs on a yearly basis.

“We are in a very critical period of the economy and things are getting much worst very fast, We are a country of about 170 million, growing at three and half per cent a year. There is a need to create between four to six million jobs for the people yearly. We have a backlog of unemployment people and five years from now, if this unemployment problem was not solved, it would amount to creating eight million jobs a year and if we fail, the society might not hold.

“We needed employment emergency in this country. We must create policies that would bring Nigerians in diaspora back to the country. The fiscal and monetary policies must gear towards growth. We must grow this country by 15 per cent a year for many years and create six million jobs year on year. There should be a better coordination of fiscal and monetary policy so that higher interest rate and loose fiscal policy will not kill a well planned project.”

2014-02-26