Federal government has been called upon to ban the importation of generators into the country, “because their importers are sabotaging the economy”.
Senator Victor Oyofo, who made the call yesterday at the official opening ceremony of the 9th Abuja International Trade Fair also said; the high interest charge demanded by Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN from commercial banks was deterring industrial development in the country.
Oyofo accused the manufacturers and importers of generator of sabotaging the nation’s energy sector, stressing that, “if the importation generators were not banned, our nation’s power development would not grow.”
He advised the manufacturers and importers to rather than producing generators for Nigerians to buy, they should come and invest in our energy sector.
Oyofo expressed concern on that high interest rate on loan was the major challenge that slows down the nation’s development.
He bemoaned that, many small businesses had died due to the high interest charged on loans obtained by them from banks.
“How could our economy grow when people had to pay so much interest before they could get loans from the banks in order to invest?
“Truly, many investors are scared to go to the Nigerian banks to borrow money because of this high interest rate.
“This is because when they remember the huge interest that they would pay on the loan they are taking, they would be deterred to go and borrow from banks’’, he said.
Oyofo added that, “There are many things that bother me on the interest charges the CBN demands from the commercial banks that collect loans from it.
“And if we are talking of industrial development in the country, we should ask ourselves how much interest rate does CBN charges before it gives loans to commercial banks.
“I am told that CBN charges 12 per cent of interest or as high as 18 or 20 per cent of interest on the money it lends to the commercial banks”, he stressed.
Oyofo said that, if CBN were to charge two percent as its interest, it would still make more money from commercial banks and many people would be willing to borrow.
He called on the governments and all the stakeholders, in the agricultural sector to intensify their focus on the sector in order to produce raw materials and food for the nation’s teeming population.
Earlier the president of ABUCCIMA, Solomon Nyagba, in his address, said that, the theme of this year’s fair was to Strengthening SMEs for Economic Growth.