 The governor of the central bank of Nigeria, Sibian Yanikadoso, plans to deploy instant measures that will help strengthen the fragile trust of foreign investors in the Nigerian economy with the expectation that it will put the brakes on the freefall of the Naira against the dollar. Now, since the coming into office of the Bola Amnit team of administration, the nation's apex bank, that is the Sibian, has remained in the news, beginning with the suspension of its estuar chief, Godwin Amifili. The appointment is governed on acting capacity of Falashubun Shunobi and the commencement of investigation into the operations of the bank under the outgun management. With that, Tom Michael Alaimikadoso take him over along with his deputies, the March anticipated stability in the management structure is expected to begin to take shape. He has his work cut out for him. In this edition, it will take some time and energy to unveil in the new central bank in relation to the task ahead as the economy continues to struggle to cope with the multiple pressures that are impacting harshly on the citizens. Welcome to your business insights and cross TV Africa. I am Justin Acadone. Welcome back. Now on Tuesday, the Senate confirmed the nomination of Dr. Alaimikadoso as the governor of the central bank of Nigeria, Sibian. That also was screened alongside full nominees for the positions of the Sibian deputy governors to steer affairs of the apex bank in the next five years. The deputy governors include Emin Nanna Osoro, Mohamed Sani Abdullah Datijo, Philip Ikhazo and Dr. Bala Bello. Governor and deputy governors of the central bank of Nigeria. The nominees answered questions from distinguished senators on Sibian matters and other matters and a number of topical issues. Thereafter, the committee approved the nominations of Alaimikadoso for the position of governor of central bank of Nigeria, Madam Emin Osoro, Mohamed Abdullah Datijo, Philip Ikhazo and Bala Bello as deputy governors. As governor and deputy governors of central bank respectively. Is this a true reflection of what transpired in the committee of the whole? Earlier, the acting governor or now governor of central bank of Nigeria, Alaimikadoso vowed to implement immediate measures to revamp the economy. Inflation and price stability, a major function of the central bank. What are the causes and what is Sibian's proposed response to address inflation and price stability issues? Clearly, these problems, statements need an in-depth review by us and the central bank leadership to determine which mechanisms are currently working. What can be tweaked or dispensed with and what new tools need to be introduced? The economic policy proposals of the administration identify a set of fiscal reforms and growth targets that will achieve a $1 trillion GDP within eight years. In reviewing selected growth targets that will achieve $1 trillion GDP, these indices include moderate inflation, sizable foreign reserves, and capacity to quickly rebound from cyclical economic downturns. In other words, to the extent that the administration has defined such a bold target for the country. Achieving this is very critical to achieve the stability that we require in various economic indices. It's not the only thing, but it is very important. So we believe that this is the right way to go and we endorse this. Welcome back, that's the central bank governor, Yemikadoso, giving him his speech there at the senator while he was being screened. Now with over 30 years of experience in the public and private financial sectors, Yemikadoso is arguably fit for the civilian governor, but this fact about him could be a problem. From a botched narrow redesign to inflation-inducing effects policies, Yemikadoso has what can be described as a clear task ahead of him if, okay, when he was approved, he's taken the reins of Godwin Amifili's nine-year reign. Amifili, who is now facing allegations of fraud after his suspension created policies which some believe launched Nigeria into economic problems. Now Principal Partner Woodridge and his court consultant, Shagun Shokmiton, joins me now to discuss further. Good morning to you, Shagun. Thanks for joining us on Business Insight and Plus TV Africa. Thanks for having me, Justin. Good morning. Good morning. Let me get your first impression. You had the Senate screening of the governor of the CB and Yemikadoso. He said join his screening now. How did that really hit you? I think, generally, from a very broad perspective, there is cause for hope. He sounded like he is grounded and understands the task that is ahead of him. I had my concerns initially when his name was announced, not because I thought that he is not cerebral or intellectual or experienced enough, but because our experience with commercial bankers as central bankers in recent history has not been particularly encouraging. So I had my concerns, but having listened to him talk, I think there is clarity, at least in the manner he has communicated his thoughts with regards to the things that need to be done and how he intends to go about it. I particularly like his referencing of the fiscal side of things when it comes to inflation management because one of the biggest mistakes that we have seen are central banks have made in the last eight years, which means primarily we are talking about the turning of the past governor, has been that we have been approaching inflation as though it is a monetary problem only, especially in the case of Nigeria, that is anything but the truth. So it is heartwarming to hear that the CBN governor, the new CBN governor understands that it is not just about the monetary policy, there is a significant fiscal side to the issues as well. It's generally I have a very positive feeling about this man, having listened to him talk now. All right, now let's take a retrospective view of the CBN leadership in the past, okay, months and maybe eight years, okay, there were issues with corporate governance, issues with ways and means, parties and politics, some of which came up during the screening, but how do we ensure checks on the central bank management and leadership going forward? I think the checks and balances on the management of the CBN falls squarely and directly on only one desk, the person that appointed the governor and that's the president. So if you have a CBN governor who has gone off track in terms of how he is going about his task, going into partisan politics, breaking the law, very recklessly breaking the law with regards to the ways and means accounts and also many other things that we saw go wrong under the last CBN governor. The only source in my view of checks and balances will come from the president because the central bank enjoys is a very high degree of autonomy. There's some checks that can come from the national assembly committees that are responsible for finance and economy issues, but there's only so much they can do, they can only recommend, they can only perhaps examine, but when it comes to where the actual action of stopping excesses would come from, that has to be from the president. So as an example, when the past CBN governor declared his intention to run for presidency without having resigned his appointment as the central bank of Nigeria, knowing that the CBN act is categorical about the engagement in partisan politics of the sitting CBN governor, the only person that could have done something about that was President Buhari and he chose not to. So if we have a repeat of such things under this administration, one would hope that the new president will have the will, the strength of character to say no and to take the required actions. Some of those actions were actually actions that justified under the law the removal of the CBN governor, but we never saw any action from the past president. So we hope that that will not be the case this time. The CBN governor must conduct himself in a manner that is fitting for that office and that office, let's not make no mistake that arguably is probably after the seat of the president of the country, one of the most important public offices in Nigeria. So we must not take it lightly. All right. But then one would wonder if there will be a little bit of a difference or reoccurrence per se, knowing how close Cadoso is with the president, but now a lot of people have said that they went beyond making monetary policies to making economic policies, which was actually a duty of government as it were right now. How can Cadoso make a clear distinction of this to know that he actually has a close ties with the president? Well, the close ties with the president is a two-edged sword. They can walk to the advantage of Nigerians and they can walk to the disadvantage of Nigerians. So if the CBN governor is determined to do the right things, if he has the will, the strength of character to say no, to setting prompts and requests from the federal government, his close ties to the president can facilitate that. So because he's close to the president and they've worked together for many decades, he should be in a position to say, I would imagine that their conversations in private are very personal. So they probably have some sort of nicknames that they even call each other. So he should be able to speak to the president and say, no, sir, this one will not work. No, this one is against the law. I advise we don't do this because they're close. So if he's doing the right thing, of course, if it's also not doing the right thing or if the president decides willfully to do the wrong things, then that closeness can work against the interests of Nigerians. So we can only hope that it will be the first case rather than the latter case where their personal relationship works for the benefit and for the good of all. The ways and means accounts is a very serious issue where there have been serious infractions. There are efforts to correct that now by trying to capitalize those excess figures. Once that is done, this CBN governor must ensure that the law is adhered to strictly by advising the president accordingly. All right, Shegu, moving on now, Cadoso is coming into office at a time of heightened expectations, runaway inflation, fledgling valley of the Naira, vis-à-vis other international currencies and exchange rates and challenges, price instability and all of that. What reform should he be looking at as we go forward in the economy? Right. The CBN governor, I think right now it's important that we all recognize that we're in a crisis. Nigeria is right in the thick of an economic crisis that could spiral out of control and consume us all literally. We are on the brink of a situation where inflation goes into a tailspin. People are unable to buy basic goods and services, including food and especially food, because it's just simply can afford it. And if that should happen, then you will have social collapse. So we must tread this period with very serious sense of responsibility and understand that the very fabric of our existence is under threat. So if I were the CBN governor, I would pay almost all of my attention in the first few weeks in office on fixing this foreign exchange issue. Now there are no serious quick fixes. The challenge we have in front of us is a fundamental, foundational and structural problem. Problems of liquidity, problems of productivity, talking about exports of goods and exports of services and getting adequate returns in foreign exchange for that. Problems of local productivity to reduce dependence on forex for a majority of macroeconomic indices. So these are fundamental issues. However, there are immediate quick wins that this CBN governor can direct his attention towards to ensure that we have some circle and some relief in the short term, while we then go about the task of fixing the structural problems that we have. So that would be a major priority, I think, that the CBN governor needs to pay attention to. All right, as we round off from now, it may fairly be some intervention programs on the SME sector, also on the uncle Borah's program, which over time were not even paid for. One wonders what was the essence of those reforms that he made over time. So going forward, now, how can he address the issue of SMEs and, of course, issues of agriculture in the country? I think this is a very key question. The biggest mistake that the CBN governor made was to become an operator of development finance rather than a regulator and a facilitator. So getting directly involved in disbursement of loans to farmers, to SMEs and other sectors of the economy might look good on the face of it, but they were very, very cosmetic solutions to what is actually a deep fundamental problem. The real issue is that the banking sector who is supposed to play that role, the banking sector and the financial system as a whole, needs to be restructured in a manner that will ensure that we have access to long-term funding. This is so critical and there are policy initiatives that the central bank can put in place to encourage the inflow of such funding into the financial sector. Those are the things that the CBN governor needs to concentrate on. We need to reduce the direct involvement of the central bank in development finance and let the CBN governor actually create a policy environment where venture capital, for example, angel investors, for example, become structured and structural and become available more readily. There are angel investors in Nigeria today, but the enabling environment to encourage more people to go into that space is not there. And those are the kind of things that I think that the central bank governor needs to focus on rather than giving money to farmers and giving money to SMEs. Thank you so much. We have been speaking with Shen. We'll show you to our principal partner, Wood Regents Court Consultant. Thanks for all of your imputes on the show this morning. Thanks for having me. All right. As we round off now, the importance of insurance in the growth of any economy cannot be overemphasized. Hence, it should be part of daily lives of individuals. These were the views of experts at the 2023 Insurance Stakeholders Consultancy Forum held in Lagos. I'll leave you with details of that report. I am Justin Akadene. See you again next time. These are stakeholders from the issuer and sector gathered at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI. They are here to forge the path towards the growth of the Nigerian insurance sector, which is a contributor to economic growth, themed Rethinking Insurance as a Critical Economic Growth Strategy. President of the Chamber, Dr. Michael Olawale Cole noted that the industry despite its enormous potentials is still at its infancy and far behind its African peers. He noted that despite the substantial role played by insurance, the great and Spanish scene in the financial services sector over the last decade has not been replicated in the sector. We have challenges faced by stakeholders. These challenges include military awareness among the general population, becoming the importance of insurance. We have the use of low purchasing power, which also is a challenge for this industry. Olawale Cole, who cited Global Insurance Market Report, which says insurance penetration rates for Nigeria and South Africa is 0.5 and 12.2 respectively, said the future of the sector hinges on the extent and speed of digital transformation. We don't know what we are now. Insurance is sold long on platforms. The world is gone beyond face to face. Of course, I would say that they love to get sold on platforms. So, CIT is a place which the insurance industry certainly is best to not go into In his keynote, Commissioner National Insurance Commission signed a thermos highlighted the importance of educating the public on the need for insurance. More often than not, we are the risk in our economy. Because that is the quality of our relevance to the economy and the growth of the economy. And when you talk about the risk in your economy, you are talking about to what extent are you protecting the different vibrates of the economy. When there is an eventuality, sometimes you may not know the value of insurance or what did that happen. So, if I pick it from their handbook, in 2022, we paid, I think, a total of 129 billion back into the Nigerian economy. What that means is that if that 129 billion is mixed, it could have a lot of things. So, that's one of the value you look at. They maintained that insurance as a risk mitigation strategy also provides the required peace of mind for individuals and corporate institutions providing the required impetus and catalysts for business conception, venture and growth. Love. Plus TV News.