Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, may have developed a policy which to him, was meant to save the Nigerian economy, and in addition, fight the sponsors of terrorism through the control of bureax de change mechanism. But Emefiele, perhaps, did not see the political side of his actions, which probably has pitched him against a powerful cabal within the elite powering on street vendors who are now apparently gunning for his job. IDU JUDE writes

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele, may have unwittingly committed what the popular reggae music crooner, Peter Tosh termed ‘stepping on the razor’ which is now snaring hi plum job as the czar of the banking industry in Nigeria.

The culprit is none other than the new policy on bureau de change operations in the country which has trigged negative reactions from different quarters, including the National Assembly.

This and other germane issues have led to submission in disgruntled ranks that the Emefiele-led financial institution has been peddling unsubstantiated reasons for the cancellation of standard practices, especially as relating to the sponsorship of terrorism in Nigeria.

The CBN, on a firm note, had moved into action when it announced a high-wire policy of ending the sales of foreign exchange (forex) to Bureau De Change operators.

Emefiele had announced the ban in a live TV broadcast, after the bank had retained its benchmark policy rate. The CBN governor had posited that the ban was necessary because the parallel market had
become a conduit for illicit forex flows and graft.

The apex bank’s concern was that “BDCs had allowed themselves to be used for graft”. According to Emefiele, “This measure is not punitive on anyone, but it is to ensure the CBN is able to carry out its legitimate mandate of serving all Nigerians.”

The CBN governor added that the apex bank would also no longer process applications for BDC licences in the country. Emefiele’s action, however, since the pronouncement, has generated more reactions, especially from the elite, as well as the National Assembly.

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Now, there is an apparent resolve to establish engaging talks with the ‘warring’ parties, to finding a common ground for a soft-landing for the operators of BDC, perhaps by downplaying the terrorism edge.

Against this backdrop, more groups have emerged demanding for Emefiele’s sack, and mainly from the northern parts of the country which is believed to have an edge in the trade, and in the columns of the main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

In one of the reactions, listed in the House of Representatives order paper of Thursday, September 23, 2021, in a motion sponsored by Hon. Abubakar Makki Yellemen, it was noted that the CBN, as the apex regulatory agency for the control of currency issues in the country, is really charged with the licensing and guiding of the various bureaux de change operators in the country.

The order paper, however, also noted that the CBN recently made some decisions that had caused ‘severe hardship’ on the operators of the BDC across the country, and particularly those outside the country.

The sponsor of the motion indicated ‘knowledge of the fact’ that successive CBN leadership had been carrying out the business of foreign exchange with the BDCs to ease access to other currencies by Nigerians for their business, trip and education.

It expressed worry that the ban on CBN operation had further caused the devaluation of naira, as well as negatively affected the source of livelihood of the operators of BDC.

The instrument also indicated that the CBN had ‘unsubstantiated reasons’ for the cancellation of the operations of the BDC, to the inclusion of terrorism, fraud and round-tripping, “but up till now, no single operator has been charged to court for of the allegations”.

Some pundicts claim that, undoubtedly, the CBN’s ban on dollar purchase by the BDC has elicited negative reactions over that and other ‘shuddering’ financial policies by the apex bank since the emergence of Emefeile as the CBN governor.

The PDP, as the leading opposition party, was among the first to be taken to the media in condemnation of Emefiele’s latest policy.

However, PDP’s outburst on the issue was not taken on the face value, coming from an opposition perspective. It was seen as trying to create disaffection between the leadership of CBN and its employers.

The PDP’s action was heavily criticised and seen by some to be in solidarity with the supporters of the anti-Buhari administration.

Ironically, reactions and counter reactions, as it concerns the matter have been emerging, along the planes of politics, business, ethnicity and religion.

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The ‘sins’ of Emefiele
Called have been coming in torrents for the Federal Government to place the head of Emefiele on the platter. And it is not the first first time the trigger has been on.

A group, Arewa Youth Assembly (AYA) a socio-economic and socio-political group, has called for the resignation or sacking of the CBN governor.

It said that is the only way of honour to save the nation from further economic meltdown.

ThisNigeria recalls that In January 2016, the Serving Overseer of Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, had urged President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately sack and probe the CBN governor.

The cleric said it would be unfair and improper to prosecute the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), for allegedly ‘misappropriating’ the money meant for arms, while the CBN governor, who released the money to Dasuki, was allowed to remain in office.

Bakare said, “The CBN currently contributes negatively to the Nigerian state in more ways than one. Firstly, the CBN has become a conduit for politicians to drain the nation. Otherwise, how can a letter of barely two paragraphs, addressed to the current CBN governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, by the then NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), became the authority to incur expenditure leading to cash flow of $37m and several million euro?”

The cleric added: “In decent climes, the CBN governor cannot continue in office while the NSA is accounting for his alleged offences.”

This, however, shows that this is not the first time there has been a call for the sack of Emefiele for alleged financial misappropriation.

Reactions from the suspected group-driven anti-Emefiele policy on BDC, also alleged that the sum of N500 billion, purportedly stolen in a private Dubai investment towards the end of 2018 should be Investigated, as well as other funds that went missing during Emefiele’s leadership as the CBN governor.

Speaking to journalists on the latest call, Mohammed Salihu
Danlami and Abdulsalam Kazeem; speaker and deputy speaker of AYA respectively, alongside other group leaders, urged
the CBN governor to resign over his alleged inability to stabilise the
country’s bleeding economy.

The group said, “As you may be aware of happenings in the past couple of days on issues bordering on the untold hardship, Nigerian masses are being subjected to poor economic policies and decisions of the country’s apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under Mr Godwin Emefiele’s stewardship.

“For the umpteenth time, some of the issues we have raised which our attackers and their sponsors have not been able to intellectually
counter are enumerated below for the purpose of those seeing them for the first time:

“The drastic and steep devaluation of the Naira against other currencies even in Africa: Mr Emefiele met the naira exchanging against the American dollar at 1$ to ₦170, but today under his stewardship of the apex bank, it is 1$ to ₦575.

“This happens as a result of poor economic policies of the CBN, and it has been postulated that if nothing is done, a dollar will exchange for N1,000 before the end of this year. That will not be good for Nigerians who struggle daily to earn their living.

“It was gathered that the CBN failed to remit about N800 billion to the Federal Government and haven’t submitted the audited report of the apex bank to the office of the Accountant General of the Federation since 2010.”

The AYA added, “Under the watch of Mr Emefiele as CBN boss, ₦150 billion NIRSAL loan money got missing. He was also issuing Bureau-de-Change (BDC) licences to unprofessional agents, most of whom are his friend’s allies, and has further plunged the naira into further devaluation since these have only used these windows for selfish purposes at the expense of other 200 million Nigerians.

“He was also involved in misappropriation of funds of the bank to serve his selfish secret presidential ambition. ₦500 billion stolen from the CBN towards the end of 2018 in a private Dubai investment that went sour should be properly investigated.

The northern group firmed up its position, saying, “We wonder why the issues raised are not being addressed, (but) rather, they choose to use thugs and miscreants to engage us on a smear campaign that holds no water.

“They launched media campaigns against us, publishing and airing all manner of falsehood against us to turn Mr President against us.

“The thugs and miscreants hired by Mr Emefiele are by their actions dragging the name of President Muhammadu Buhari in the mud. Though this is nothing new because these same classes of people, are the ones who criticised the President Buhari-led Federal Government at every opportunity, right from the inception of his administration.

“We suspect that Mr. Emefiele is the one who is sponsoring every of their smear campaigns against Mr President and everyone who stands for the truth. It is noteworthy that, this same set of people who claim to be defending the CBN governor cannot come out with superior arguments on the issues we raised, and we urge the presidential media team to take a closer look at each of these points for action.

“The question that keeps begging for an answer is that, why is it that the same set of persons who have never seen anything right about this administration and will always jump up in the attack of Mr President via every medium available to them will be the same persons defending the CBN governor?

“We buttress again that these individuals are being hired to do so. It also clarifies our much earlier suspicion that all of their previous attacks on the government through CUPP, Arewa Consultative Youth Forum, Arewa Consultative Youth Movement, etc, are being paid for.”

According to the group, “The attack on the Arewa Youth Assembly and purported impeachment of its Speaker, Mohammed Salihu Danlami, are laughable because they are merely campaigns of calumny meant to silence our voices, but they have failed on arrival.

“We want to assure these enemies of a strong Nigerian economy that these voices of reason will continue to speak up in the defence of the truth, which shall be revealed soon.

“As we can no longer sit and fold our hands while things go beyond bounds, we at the Arewa Youth Assembly (AYA) a few days ago took the bull by the horn and confronted the key challenge facing us. As a
result, we came up with three (3) possible leeway that can put an end to this quagmire: That Mr Emefiele voluntarily resigns since he is deemed incompetent, totally out of ideas, and has become a burden to the Nigerian economic system.

“We ask that Mr. President sack Emiefele now before it becomes too late to reshape the Nigerian economy in such a way that it has a positive impact on the life of a common man in the street.

“Mr Emefiele has constituted himself a mole in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Mr Emefiele has demonstrated he is a cog in the wheel of progress by making rubbish of all of Mr. President’s lofty initiatives aimed at bettering the lives of Nigerians, thus pitching many Nigerians against Mr. President.”

It added: “If any of the two (2) above fail to happen, we will occupy the premises of the apex bank permanently to press home our demands until Mr. Emefiele resigns, or he is sacked by Mr. President.

“A date has been fixed for this mass action and we ask all Nigerians to join us in this struggle for the total emancipation of our dying economy.”

In its own take, the leadership of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), however, came to the rescue of the embattled CBN governor over the call by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) for his resignation.

Emefiele is not without sympathisers. The Secretary-General of CNPP, Chief Willy Ezugwu, in a chat with ThisNigeria, says the CBN governor has not done anything to warrant the call for his resignation, “hence PDP does not enjoy the support of other opposition political parties in this call.”

According to the CNPP, the PDP should be more concerned that “its top and leading members are resigning in large numbers due to the unattractive nature of the party on the watch of the current National
Working Committee (NWC) of the party”, rather than “chasing shadows when its house is consumed by an inferno”.

According to the coalition, “The Nigerian opposition parties are currently supposed to be undergoing internal healing and rebuilding so as to be well-positioned to take over power in 2023, but the activities of the Uche Secondus-led PDP has reduced the politics of opposition to child’s play and possibly being for hire to operators of BDC’s who are fighting the Governor of CBN for the policy to stop sale of forex to the BDCs.

The CNPP said, “PDP has become a shadow of itself and is fast turning into a briefcase political party if the likes of Uche Secondus and Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan are left in the strategic offices they presently occupy in the party.

“They should be shown the way out and not join hirelings to make misguided calls the basis of which are laughable, baseless and cannot be substantiated.”

Also reacting to the CBN policy and actions, the lead Director, Centre for Social Justice, Barrister Ezeh Onyekpere, condemned the attitude of Nigerians when it comes to religion and ethnicity.

He said that issues as such the CBN had raised that made the institution to take the decision on BDCs ‘should not be trivialised’.

“Inasmuch as I am not a fan of Buhari and the dancing of his cabinet, I also cannot ally myself to those who trivialise issues just because of ethnicity or religion to get somebody out of the way.

“If you look at the issues raised by the CBN, one is always convinced that there are certain measures to fighting sponsors of terrorism in Nigeria and indeed the world. One is that the man has mentioned that releasing dollars to these BDCs encourages the sponsors of terrorism.”

Onyekpere added, “We possibly should be looking at the matter nationally and also proffering solutions on how to end terrorism in Nigeria that playing is playing politics with our future.

“The way things are going, it is difficult to end terrorism in this country, more especially when sentiments and
tribalism have set in.”

“Come to think of it, the Federal Government, through one of its employees, just said that they won’t name and shame the sponsors of terrorism. So, it is not surprising what is happening to Emefiele.

“Who would have thought that his action would have proffered proper solution in ending the menace? And the way it is now, those being affected in their business are no longer looking at saving Nigeria as a nation, but saving their business first, which means that Nigeria comes last after individual interests?

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“This is how a nation fails to exist; when no one thinks about the future of the country, everyone places ethnicity and religion ahead of the survival of the nation.

“What is happening in Nigeria now is not short of such. I hope that those clamouring for the crucifixion of Emefiele can proffer better solutions to end terrorism in Nigeria.”