CBN Governor hails self, Management, says Apex Bank back to its Core Mandate

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, says the current management of the apex bank has done very well in its mandate of ensuring monetary and price stability.

Cardoso said this on Tuesday in Abuja, after presenting the communiqué from the 307th meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

”This is 36 months, three years precisely, that we assumed leadership role in the CBN. And, like all things, it is a pretty good time to look back and reflect.

“In terms of context, we need to remember where we were coming from. We were coming from a place where confidence had been lost in the bank and in the country.

“That was manifested very clearly from the confidence that was lost in our currency.

“This was a time when our currency was regularly depreciating. You could not plan, and people panicked, and a lot of people externalised all they could to be able to protect their hard-earned savings,” he said.

He said this was at a time when even the rating agencies had knocked us down and really did not see much hope for the future without radical reform.

He said that the crop of individuals that constituted leadership of the CBN since 2023 had been very helpful for the MPC and for him as the CBN governor.

“The first thing, given the context that I have laid here today, was that we were able to take the bank back to its core mandate.

“At that time, Ways and Means had dropped the economy to a huge leap. We had N23.7 trillion per capita in Ways and Means, and that fuelled the very sorry situation we had with inflation. We also had interventions of over N10 trillion.

“We had a very dysfunctional foreign exchange market, whereby there were multiplicity of rates.

“Our responsibility was to restore stability and maintain both price and financial stability. Our proudest moments have been in our ability over the years to take the right decisions that have been able to take us back there,” he said.

Credit NAN: Texts excluding Headline

Turn Africa's Mineral Wealth into Industrial Growth, Jobs, Shettima tells African Countries

Vice-President Kashim Shettima has urged African countries to stop exporting Africa’s mineral wealth and turn it into jobs and industrial growth.

Shettima also said Africa must strengthen cooperation, process more of its minerals locally and build industries around resources increasingly critical to the global economy.

He spoke at the Third High-Level Roundtable of the Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), held on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York.

The roundtable, themed “From Resources to Wealth: Continental Cooperation for Mineral Value Addition,” brought together governments, investors and mining-industry stakeholders.

Shettima said the real value of Africa’s enormous mineral endowment should ultimately be measured by its impact on ordinary Africans.

He challenged countries to move away from an economic model in which raw resources leave Africa while finished products return at significantly greater value.

According to him, greater continental cooperation on mineral governance would enable Africa to strengthen its negotiating power and capture more value from global supply chains.

The Vice-President urged the strategy group members to develop bankable projects capable of attracting investment into processing, manufacturing and other value-adding activities.

He said such projects should create employment, stimulate industrialisation and ensure mineral-producing communities receive tangible benefits from resources extracted from their environments.

Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development and AMSG Chairman, Dele Alake, called for urgent reforms to integrate artisanal miners into regulated mining systems.

Alake said governments should distinguish artisanal miners seeking legitimate livelihoods from illegal operators involved in criminal activity.

He argued that artisanal mining should be formalised and properly regulated rather than treated principally as criminal activity.

“Illegal mining must remain illegal, but artisanal miners should have a structured framework that allows them to operate legally and safely,” he said.

The minister said many artisanal miners were breadwinners whose families depended on mining for survival.

He expressed concern over recurring mine-site collapses across Africa, saying preventable deaths demonstrated the urgent need for stronger safety standards and regulatory oversight.

Alake said formalisation could provide miners with safer operating conditions, access to training, equipment, finance and government regulation.

He said it could also improve traceability of mineral production while reducing smuggling, environmental degradation and other activities associated with poorly regulated mining.

Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs, Hassan Ali Joho, called for greater sharing of geological and mineral data among African countries.

The AMSG comprises more than 30 African countries and seeks to give the continent a stronger collective voice on mineral governance, local processing and positioning within global supply chains.

The group has advocated harmonised mining policies, shared infrastructure, regional processing hubs and stronger geological data systems as tools for attracting investment and strengthening Africa’s bargaining position.

President Bola Tinubu chairs the AMSG General Assembly and has previously urged members to speak collectively and prevent Africa from remaining simply a source of raw materials for industrialised economies.

Representatives of Tanzania and Chad also made presentations at the event attended by Foreign Affairs Minister Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu and Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the UN, Jimoh Ibrahim.

Also present were Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno, that of Nasarawa, Abdullahi Sule, Kebbi Governor Nasir Idris and Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers.

Credit NAN: Texts excluding Headline

Dangote, Obasanjo at UN Deputy Secretary General's Sent Forth...

President, Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, Deputy Secretary General of United Nations, Amina Mohammed, Halima Aliko Dangote and Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo at a Sent Forth Party for the UN Scribe at the Africa Centre, Harlem,  New York.

Credit Dangote Group PR