The House of Representatives has resolved to investigate the policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria on the restoration of the 43 prohibited items to official FX platform.

The House summoned the Governor of the CBN, Yemi Cardoso, to appear before its Committees on Banking Regulation and Customs to explain the rationale behind the policy.

This resolution was a sequel to a motion of urgent public importance moved by Sada Soli (APC, Katsina) on Tuesday during plenary.

Moving the motion, Mr Soli said the policy by the bank will have a negative impact on local production by exposing the Nigerian market to unfair competition.

He said the policy has the capacity to lead to the shutdown of factories in the country.

“The 43 items are part of the import prohibition list to protect local production of goods like rice, cement, palm oil and among others.

“The policy by the CBN will force local manufacturers to hold the short end of the stick. The 43 items formed the critical sectors of the Nigerian economy,” he said.

Speaking on the motion, Jesse Onuakalusi (LP, Lagos) moved an amendment for the CBN to suspend the policy pending the intervention by the House. However, the amendment was rejected by the lawmakers.

The motion was adopted unanimously when Speaker Abbas Tajudeen put it to vote.

Background

In 2015, the CBN restricted the availability of foreign exchange to the importation of 43 items which could be locally produced within the country.

The Central Bank announced that some 41 items were “Not Valid for Foreign Exchange” because they could easily be produced in Nigeria rather than being imported into the country.

Some of the affected items include rice, cement, margarine, palm kernel, palm oil products, vegetable oils, meat and processed meat products, vegetables and processed vegetable products, poultry, tomatoes/tomato paste, soap and cosmetics, and clothes.

Other items include private aeroplanes/jets, Indian incense, tinned fish in sauce, cold rolled steel sheets, galvanized steel sheets, roofing sheets, wheelbarrows, head pans, metal boxes/containers, enamelware, steel drums and pipes, wire mesh, steel nails, wood particle boards, and panels.

Equally affected were security and razor wire, wood particle and fibre boards and panels, wooden doors, furniture, toothpicks, glass/glassware, kitchen utensils, tableware, tiles (vitrified, ceramics), textiles, wooden fabrics, plastic/rubber products, polypropylene granules, and cellophane wrappers.

The CBN subsequently added fertiliser and maize/corn to the list of banned items.

On 12 October, the CBN announced the restoration of the 43 items to the official FX platform.

President Bola Tinubu had on Monday, during an appearance at the Nigeria Economic Summit held in Abuja, explained the reason for the policy.

“You’ve heard that the CBN removed about 43 items, I’ve read all the comments, but there must be a clear line between monetary policy and fiscal policy.

“Are these items on trade embargo? No. You simply move them to the parallel market. Let’s compete with whatever is available so that the government will work hard and bring more investment to the economy,” he said.

Adblock test (Why?)