Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, said in Tokyo on Sunday that Nigeria’s Excess Crude Account
would be built up to $10 billion by early 2013.

Okonjo-iweala made this known while briefing newsmen on the
Nigerian economy at the Annual Meeting of the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund (IMF).

“I strongly feel and I have shared with the governors, with
Mr. President and vice-president who fully support that the Excess Crude
Account must be built up to $10 billion.

“We should strive to do that in the next few months and we
keep that as buffer.’’

According to her, if the account is built up to $10 billion
dollars and it is not touched for a while, it will serve as buffer.

She noted that there was the need to increase the nation’s
external reserve, considering the population of the country.

“Our reserves are not huge, we are just building backup;
it’s not my place, it is the monetary policy that manages it, but I have
discussed with the CBN governor that we need to build up our reserve to $50
billion, if we can.

“That will be the desires of the fiscal authorities, so I
don’t consider us with the size of the economy and population we have.

“Look at Algeria, their reserve is nearly $200 billion, for
a country much smaller than Nigeria,’’ she said.

On infrastructure, she noted that the country needed about $10 billion yearly to tackle its infrastructural challenges adding that Nigeria would draw from the World Bank’s loan offer with a go-ahead from the National Assembly.

She noted that Nigeria would not draw from the international
monetary resources at the moment to tackle the infrastructure challenges.

“We are trying to put our borrowing to really direct it to
infrastructure, as you know we have gone to other sources, the Word Bank is
helping us with power, so is the African Development Bank.

“Those are very concessional resources. The problem we have
right now is that the meetings from the World Bank; they are indicating that if
we do not pass through external borrowing plan, where we have $1.2 billion,
that has been approved.

“They are very sympathetic to us, they will like Nigeria to
use that money but if the money stays there and it’s not approved for use, they
will have to move it and give it to other countries.’’

Okonjo-Iweala noted that the loan to be taken would be given
at zero interest rate, a 40-year repayment period and 10 years of moratorium
and only 0.7 per cent commitment charge.

She said that the money would be used for power, water and
health care among others, adding that Nigeria could only benefit from the loan,
if the National Assembly approved.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria, Governor, Sanusi
Lamido Sanusi said in Tokyo yesterday that the bank would soon stop the selling
of cash to bureaux de change.

“70 per cent of the dollars that people buy from bureaux de
change are not for transactions outside Nigeria, they move dollars from one
part of the country to the other, in fact, from one part of Abuja to another
part.

“In a briefcase, you can carry $100,000, that’s N50 million.

“We are coming up with policies; we are going to have to
stop selling cash to BDC and credit their accounts.

“If you want to pay for medical bills abroad, you give
hospital account; if you want to pay school fees, do transfer like everybody
else; if you want to travel, do travelers cheques or get money on your card.’’

He said that at the moment, the dollar was becoming
Nigeria’s second national currency, becoming a source of worry to the apex bank
and even to President Goodluck Jonathan.

Sanusi noted that part of the reason why the bank moved to
restructure the Naira was to tackle the genuine need of high net-worth cash
users.