By Myke Uzendu, Abuja
A political pressure group known as Reform Nigeria Now (RNN) has accused the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele of politiczing the apex bank and making it an appendage of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The group claimed that Godwin Emefiele is nursing 2023 governorship ambition, and is allegedly manipulating the policies of the CBN, including with the 100-for-100 funding scheme, to grant political favours to his backers in the APC.
In a statement on Tuesday by its Chairman, Chief Adakole Agaba, the group alleged that the apex bank under the leadership of Emefiele has abandoned its constitutional role as an independent monetary and financial management agency to become a willing tool for the manipulation of the APC.
The Benue-based group said that the development has taken to a “dangerous degree,” adding that Emefiele is plotting to increase his political capital in the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), with policies driven by partisan considerations and designed to grant exclusive favours to the governors under the ruling party.
This development, he claims, makes Emefiele the APC’s unofficial 22nd Governor in charge of an important national institution with enormous budgetary strength.
He said: “The sad descent of the CBN from an independent and important national institution to a mere extension of a political party is now complete under the disgraceful and disastrous watch of Mr Godwin Emefiele.
“The failed banker who brought Nigeria’s currency to new lows and gave rise to a historic inflation that is yet to abate is now pursuing policies with a singular objective: to please his backers in the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, who are selling him hopes of preparing the stage for a presidential run in 2023.
“The proof of this is not farfetched. Mr Emefiele’s policies have failed every independent review that checked for economic and finances plausibility, as well as the achievement of stated goals. Only recently, the World Bank passed a damning verdict on his foreign exchange policies that caused a roiling crisis and created a damaging situation where the value of the naira has become a subject of daily speculation and wild fluctuations.
“To paraphrase the World Bank, Mr Emefiele’s management of the FX Policy deterred investments at a crucial period when Nigeria needed new in-flows to make up for the biting shortage of dollars and the consequent imbalance in supply and demand. In short, he brought upon Nigerians an avoidable crisis and hardship and then proceeded to make it worse with every move.
“This 100-for-100 scheme is no different from his other politically-driven moves. It is a campaign policy pursued by the CBN Governor who is to all intents and purposes abusing the powers of his office, including an unappropriated budget, to please his backers in the APC who have assured him of the party’s ticket in 2023.
“It is an outrageous act of corruption that could see Nigeria sleep-walk into a full-blown fiscal catastrophe in the mold of Zimbabwe.”
“We frown at this reduction of our CBN into another APC office, in which case states like Benue with the brightest agriculture prospect are consistently overlooked in purported agric-support schemes, while Mr. Emefiele fixes his gaze permanently on APC states with no real prospect, all for partisan benefits.
“While our yams rot away on our farms in Benue, the Central Bank that should be doing monetary policy is buying fake rice to build a pyramid show for his APC collaborators.
“We are demanding an investigation of Mr Emefiele’s schemes, including this ill-fated 100-for-100 political gimmick, and a concerted effort to save the CBN’s institutional integrity from this power-hungry man who is simply trading funds for support.”
