By Nik Ogbulie
Olayemi Cardoso, Governor Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), may have kept his words at the 2025 Annual Meetings of the WorldBank and the IMF, whe he assured at the various fora in Washington that his team is quite mindful of the position of the Nigerian economy and must do everything necessary to make it better.
Two months after the outing in Washington, indications are rife that the Nigerian economy has been witnessing sober improvements and emerging real-term expressions of great improvements, ranging from growing spates of trust, improvements on rates and continued slide in domestic commodity costs, and renewed trusts on the equities and money markets.
Prior to the 60th annual meetings of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Lagos (CIBN), remarkable slide was experienced on the forex regime which has returned a rate seen to have sustained the four months trend and believed to may remain active even after end of year period, at below N1400, as against nearly N2000/ 1 dollar, as was in vogue by thii time in 2024.
With renewed vigor, strengthened by continuous optimism, emerging positive results on its monetary policy efforts, Cardoso had spoken to the over 1500 bank chiefs, indicating charm and reason. He was sure that the banking industry has started to reinforce stable productive support based on increasing capacity fostered by a growing capital base and increasing trust.
He assured Nigerians that 27 banks have been putting strong efforts to meet the new recapitalization deadline while 16 are already classified as fit and proper to move into a new regime of monetary policy guidelines by March next year. He said that the banking sector remains fundamentally robust to guide the economy to the new destination Nigerians deserve in the new global perspective.
While assuring bankers of sustained efforts to create a proper environment for the industry to flourish, he also noted that the new recapitalisation effort is on track and will be conclusive soon, reemphasizing the bank’ s interest in the growth of the MSMEs as central to the apex bank’s economy growth interests of improving access to credits.
Cardoso is mindful of the digital economy blaze and wants banks to continue to surge towards that direction so that the economy will remain as one with the most advanced dynamic digital payment system in the world. He noted that Nigeria’s next phase of Fintech revolution is on, and this aligns favourably with CBN’s efforts to boost financial inclusion and improve reporting standards which will enhance risk management and external shocks today and ever.
Cardoso still believes that banking sector stability remains the bedrock of his monetary policy management as he wants to deepen engagement with all operators in the financial sector in 2026. “We will build capacity and ensure that the foundation for a revitalized Nigeria has been Laid”, Cardoso insists.
This implies that Nigeria has now demonstrated the capacity to absorb economic shocks and even more resilient to absorb shocks today than ever, he also noted.
Moneyreport Economic Intelligence can reveal that CBN’s Financial Inclusion efforts have cultivated about three million agent bankers across the nation with trust deficits glaringly reduced.
As a matter of fact’ the apex bank is believed to have opened itself and processes to many Nigerians who now feel that one winning factor in Nigeria’s monetary policy engagement has remained its bold structural reforms, new capacity building and strategic alignments with key institutions and professions that can deliver sustainable values.
