The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has hinted of plans to deepen its foreign exchange policy by opening more avenues for forex inflows into the country.
Though the forex exchange policy has gained a reasonable stability as a result reform introduced by the apex bank, a new forex exchange policy will be announced next month which will enable Nigeria to gain from the swing in the international market, CBN Deputy Governor (economic policy) hinted on Tuesday when he featured as a member of discussion panel at World Bank unveiling of April 2026 Nigeria Development Update report in Abuja.
The report is titled: “Nigeria’s tomorrow must start today: The case of early childhood development”.
The event had Minister of finance and coordinating Minister for the economy Mr Wale Edun, Word Bank’s Lead Economist for Nigeria Mr. Fiseha Haile; World Bank Country Director Mathew Verghis, Gombe state Commissioner for finance , Gambo Magaji in attendance. Other senior officials from government institutions and private sector players also attended..
The World Bank in the report notes that, Nigeria’s investment in early childhood development is grossly inadequate,
It backs its assertion with statistics, stating that, on average,110 out of 1,000 Nigerian children die before age five, 40 percent stunted,and 52 percent not developmentally on track before entering school, a development the bank said was far more than in countries with similar income levels.
World Bank Lead Economist, Fiseha Haile in the report presented to the audience spotted persistent gaps which include, lack of early childhood development which manifests in maternal health, new born care, disease prevention and access to safe water and sanitation , particularly across the first 2,000 days of life.
The report acknowledged the country has made meaningful progress in restoring macroeconomic stability, it nonetheless notes that inclusive growth must accelerate substantially to improve livelihood.
“This partly depends on how effectively it invests in its people, creates jobs, and start in early life”.
The report attests to bold reforms undertaken by Nigeria which have strengthened macroeconomic fundamentals .
However, it said enhancing Nigerians’ productive capabilities will be critical to translating these gains into better living standards and jobs.
“Nigeria has made efforts to stabilize its economy, but welfare gains are still modest. Moreover, the conflict in the Middle East adds pressures. Sustaining and deepening macroeconomic stabilization, as well as addressing structural constraints, will be critical to translating reform dividends into faster, more inclusive growth, jobs and improved living standards,” said Mathew Verghis, World Bank Country Director for Nigeria.
“Investing early in nutrition, health, caregiving, safety and early learning is one of the most powerful ways Nigeria can convert today’s reform gains into higher productivity, better jobs, and lasting poverty reduction.”
Improving early childhood outcomes requires a more integrated approach—bringing together nutrition, health, responsive caregiving, early learning, and children’s living environments, including access to water and sanitation, into a coherent and continuous package of support.
This includes defining a basic package of services from pregnancy to age five, improving targeting and delivery, engaging the private sector and community providers, and aligning financing and coordination with measurable outcomes.
At a panel session moderated by Nancy Iloh , presenter of Money Show on African Independent Television, Minister of finance and coordinating Minister for the economy Mr Wale Edun said the government is determined to lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty.
Edun said the issue of early child development is important to Nigeria.
He said reforms undertaken by the president Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration put the country in a position to address some of the challenges.
“We must recognize that it is the reforms under the Renewed Hope Agenda and Action Plan of President Bola Tinubu that put Nigeria in a much better, much stronger position for the economy and the society than it would have been without these reforms.
“We now have an opportunity to carry on from there , as we’ve just seen from the presentation of the Lead Economist of the World Bank.
“Continuing in the same direction on the monetary side and on the fiscal side, I think the one thing that needs emphasis even more is that , under the stable and improved and incentivized macroeconomic environment, is to substantially lift the millions of Nigerians out of poverty by investment.
“Yes, the government has its own what the World Bank called enablers- pillars of investments, but it is Nigerians, not just the large scale, but the small and the medium scale, whose investments will help us to create jobs and reduce poverty”, Edun said.
In his contribution, Deputy Governor ( economic policy) Dr Abdullahi Muhammad Sani said CBN focus right now is sustaining stability achieved in the economy.
He recalled painstaking reforms embarked by the CBN that birthed current stability saying the task remains preserving the stability.
“The Central Bank is still very focused on preserving the stability. How do we ensure that this stability that we’ve achieved over the last couple of months, we’ve had a very rough period to get here, but now that we have some level of stability, how do we protect it, maintain it, and ensure that it goes on into the future?
“And if you look at inflation, for example, we’ve been on a solid disinflation journey for over a year, and the Central Bank is continuing to do everything that it can within the tools that we have to ensure that we maintain that. The target, of course, is to get to single-digit inflation. Right now where we are?
“As of January, food inflation was a single digit, which hadn’t happened for over 13 years. Headline inflation was at 14% to about 15% when the previous was done. But we’re really focused on how we ensure that this continues to get done.
“As was mentioned in the presentation, if you look at the other Countries, we are still a bit high. Our inflation is still a bit high. We’re nowhere near the number that we were in 2024, but 15% is still high”, he said.
He said the bank was working every day to ensure inflation numbers get down.
Speaking about forex exchange policy, Mohammed said a lot of work went into creating a willing seller, willing buyer system.
“On the FX, there’s been a lot of work over the last two years to ensure that the exchange rate reflects the market, the willing buyer, willing seller, in a way that allows us to really cushion some of the shocks that we have.
“And if you look at Nigeria over the last two months, and if you compare us with other emerging economies, if you take Turkey, for example, Turkey has spent over 20 billion dollars in the last month or two since the war began to stabilize its currency.
“Nigeria has not had to do that, because we’ve done the reforms. The pricing is transparent, it’s credible, and we’re allowing the market to really determine the cost.
“And if you look at the movements, you can see even within the last month and a half, you can see some appreciation in the Naira. So our focus really is on that stability, and ensuring that we do everything we can”, he assured.
Speaking about upcoming new forex exchange policy, Deputy Governor CBN said: “In terms of forex exchange policy, over the next month, for example, we are going to be launching a new foreign exchange value.
“What this does, is really to put us on an even better footing in terms of exchange rate management, to ensure that we’re opening up all the doors for more inflow, and ensuring that Nigeria is able to really gain from the swing in the international market”.
In the NDU report, “outlook for Nigeria’s economy remains cautiously optimistic. Growth is projected at 4.2% over 2026-2028, supported by continued macroeconomic stabilization, ongoing structural reforms, and increased investment. Inflation, which is still high, is expected to fall gradually, albeit more slowly than previously expected due to pressures from the Middle East conflict”.
