From holding Master’s and Doctorate Degrees at the University of Benin and the University of Ibadan respectively, Doctor Kingsley Obiora has played key roles in shaping Nigeria’s economic policies.
Formerly based in Washington DC, Obiora who was a director at the International Monetary Fund Obiora is the current deputy governor (Economic Policy) at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
In January 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari nominated Kingsley Obiora for the position of deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Senate thereafter confirmed him.
He said success is never a destination as it is a journey that must be continued. He added that the only way to lead is to continue working hard, be open to new ideas and to keep learning.
And in a special interview with The BlackMentor TV and the host, Joseph Nantomah, the ex-special adviser on economic matters to the governor of the CBN stated that the CBN under Governor Godwin Emiefele has continued to support the Nigerian youth.
He pointed out that the Entrepreneurship Development Centers were formed across the country just to train entrepreneurs and then see that they go and succeed in their respective businesses.
He said:
“These centres are basically to ensure that we develop skills for the purpose of job creation for our youths. And since 2008 that we started, we have grown the number of trainees we have from just 2915 to almost 83,000 in 2021.
“What we do is that we train these students in a skill that they choose and then we create cheap loans at a very low-interest rate that can help them do now and start doing that job or skill.
“During this period we have actually distributed over about N3.9billion to all the trainees and in the process created over 37,000 jobs.”
Being a former technical adviser to Nigeria’s National Economic Management Team and former special assistant to ex-President Jonathan’s Chief Economic Adviser, Obiora was a major actor in several economic fronts, including energy subsidies, power sector reform and a host of others.
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Asked to advise Nigerian youths on the ‘untapped sectors’ where they should consider investing their money, time and resources for the hope of gaining financial stability and freedom, Obiora added:
“The Nigerian economy has two major sectors, the oil sector and the non-oil sector. Even though in terms of expenditure and foreign exchange inflows, the country depends a lot on the oil sector.
“In terms of contribution to GDP growth, the non-oil sector actually contributes way more – routinely over 90 per cent. In general, while I will not begrudge anyone who wants to go into the oil sector, I think the hidden gem may actually be in the non-oil sector.
“So, I mean agriculture, manufacturing, creative industries, e-commerce, construction and real estate; and things like that.”
Kingsley Obiora has done extensive work on exchange rate assessment, debt sustainability analyses, decoupling and spillovers, as well as a review of financial sector assessments.
