Pressure is mounting on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s Governor, Godwin Emefiele, after the events of the last one week, notably the electoral victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and the judgment of the Supreme Court on the naira redesign policy on Friday.
The Supreme Court had, on Friday, nullified the CBN’s naira redesign policy, declaring it as an affront on the 1999 Constitution.
The court had held that President Muhammadu Buhari’s disobedience of the February 8 order was a sign of dictatorship, noting that his unconstitutional use of powers had breached the fundamental rights of the Nigerian citizens in many ways.
The court had also ordered that the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes would remain in circulation till December 31, 2023.
Merely five days before, Tinubu had been declared the winner of the presidential election held on February 25, 2023.
Several politicians had claimed that Emefiele’s hurried introduction of the naira redesign policy and his watertight implementation were meant to frustrate Tinubu and ensure he did not win the presidential election.
Notable among the critics was the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, who had accused the CBN helmsman of economic sabotage, alleging that Emefiele and his supporters wanted to make life difficult for Nigerians, make APC lose the election or ensure the elections did not take place.
Tinubu had also spoken against the policy at a pre-election rally in Abeokuta, Ogun State, stating that fuel and naira scarcity was artificially created to discourage people from voting for the ruling party.
What we learnt
Dataphyte learnt from sources close to the CBN governor that since Tinubu’s victory on February 25, Emefiele had been feeling an uneasy calm. Our source said he was now caught between obeying the Supreme Court judgment and sticking to his boss, Buhari, whose tenure would elapse in two months’ time.
The source said he was feeling the APC governors could ask Tinubu to terminate his appointment and possibly prosecute him.
“He was only obeying orders of the president, but he is afraid Buhari will not be there to protect him when Tinubu assumes power on May 29,” the source, whose identity was hidden because of the sensitivity of the issue, said.
It was, however, difficult to confirm these comments as the CBN spokesperson, Osita Nwanisiobi, had retired and the new acting Director of Corporate Communications, Dr Isa Abdulmumin, had just assumed office and was just settling down.
Gbajabiamila mounts pressure
Tinubu protege and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Friday, asked the CBN to comply with the judgment of the Supreme Court.
He said, “The remarkably haphazard implementation of the currency swap policy fell way short of international standards. It deviated from the prior practice of the CBN without providing any benefits to the Nigerian people or the economy of Nigeria, both of which have suffered significant harm as a result.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria must respect the apex court’s judgment and act quickly to give it full effect. This is necessary to reverse some of the damage done to our economy and prevent the continued suffering of the Nigerian people.”
Economists knock Emefiele
Economists have also criticised Emefiele, especially his naira swap and redesign policy, noting that he had simply violated the rights of Nigerians and impoverished many.
“We welcome the Supreme Court ruling as it protects the citizens from a policy which is, by all accounts, disruptive, repressive and draconian. It is also punitive, cruel and insensitive. Indeed, Nigerians deserve an apology from the promoters and proponents of the policy, especially the arbitrary and uninformed mopping up of cash in the economy,” said CEO of Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr Muda Yusuf, in a statement sent to Dataphyte on Friday.
Yusuf said the CBN currency redesign policy inflicted indescribable agony, suffering and distress on the majority of Nigerian citizens, noting that the trouble was not with the redesign but the deliberate and unrestrained mopping up of cash in the economy.
“To date the CBN has mopped up about N2 trillion cash from the economy, thereby paralyzing the retail sector, crippling the informaleconomy, stifling the agricultural value chain, immobilizing the transportation sector and disrupting the payment system in theeconomy,” he said.
He further said that it was a flagrant violation of the rights of citizens for the CBN to withhold the cash of citizens under the guise of currency redesign, noting that the CBN Act did not give the bank right to do so.
In an Arise TV programme, Managing Director and CEO of Financial Directives Company, Bismarck Rewane, had described the policy as counterproductive, saying that the colour of a currency did not matter but its value.
“No team wins a game because of the colour of its jersey. People win games because of their capacity. Between France and Argentina, the colour of their jerseys is going to be blueish but that won’t determine. It depends on the ferocity and the tenacity of Mbappe on one hand and Lionel Messi on the other hand,” he said.