Cardoso Not Qualified For CBN Job – Babachir Lawal

By Gideon Njoku

A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir Lawal, has pointed out that Yemi Cardoso, newly appointed Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, is not the right man for the job.

Reason: Cardoso, says Lawal is ill-qualified, because, according to him, Cardoso has no experience to run Nigeria’s Apex Bank.

President Bola Tinubu appointed Cardoso as CBN Governor after the forced resignation of Dr. Godwin Emefiele as the CBN Governor.  Before his forced resignation, Tinubu had suspended Emefiele from office in June. Within 24 hours of his suspension, Emefiele was picked up by the Department of State Services, DSS, for interrogation over sundry issues, including illegal possession of a gun, and alleged economic sabotage.

About a couple of weeks ago, he was released by the DSS, but became, immediately, a guest to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

On Wednesday, November 8,  2023, Emefiele was released on bail on the stern orders of a Federal High Court, Abuja, 151 days after his arrest and detention.

But Lawal, who spoke on Arise TV Wednesday, criticised the qualification of Emefiele’s successor, Cardoso. He accused President Tinubu of appointing somebody with what he described as “patch-patch CV” as the Governor of Nigeria’s Apex Bank.

Cardoso, among other things, was the Commissioner of Planning, Lagos State, under the administration of Tinubu as Governor of Lagos State. He was, also, the Chairman of Citi Bank. But Lawal said those positions hardly qualify him for the CBN job.

He argued that even though Lagos could be classified as a big economy, it is a small State out of 36 other States. He, also, pointed out that the bank which Chairman Cardoso was, was a small bank with only 13 branches in Lagos, Warri and Benin. The bank was ”targeting oil money,” he said, and emphasized that Cardoso had no experience to run the CBN.

Proof: Lawal said because Cardoso has no experience, he, Lawal, was not surprised that the first thing Cardoso did as CBN Governor, was to open the gate for the importation of 43 items, including rice, thus, destroying the near self-sufficiency of Nigeria in rice production and the plan of Nigerian Farmers to begin the export of excess rice in 2024.

Lawal: “As to his (Tinubu’s) Central Bank Governor, in my response to APC (All Progressives Congress) when they decided to take me on, I mentioned that the President had a Central Bank Governor with ‘patch-patch’ CV.

“I said ‘patch-patch’ CV because he was the Commissioner of Planning in Lagos State, a very small state out of the 36 states we have. It is a big economy but you cannot say he has enough experience to be in that position as the Central Bank Governor.

“They also went on to say that he was a Chairman of a bank with 13 branches, and that doesn’t give him sufficient exposure – a bank with 13 branches. I mentioned that they are all located around Lagos with two branches in Lagos, Warri, Benin City, and all that.

“To me, the bank was targeting oil money and he is now the Central Bank governor.

“He didn’t disappoint my expectations because the first thing he did as the Governor was to remove the import ban on 43 items, most of which were very critical to Nigeria’s food sufficiency.

“He removed the ban on importation of rice. Nigeria had a very massive programme on self-sufficiency in rice for the Anchor Borrowers Programme, and we were beginning to reach about 90% self-sufficiency.

“We, farmers, were beginning to think that by next year, we will be exporting the excess rice that we have produced. But he comes and says ‘no, you are now free to import rice, he can give you the foreign exchange to import rice.’

“He does the same thing on many other agricultural items. It convinces me that my suspicion that this man will not be able to do this job was right.”

Lawal is a former President Tinubu’s  close friend and political ally who turned a political enemy. Both men parted ways over Tinubu’s choice of Senator Kashim Shettima as his running mate in the February 25th 2023 Presidential Election. Lawal was scandalised that Tinubu, a Muslim, chose Shettima, another Muslim, as his running mate in a religion sensitive country like Nigeria.

Since then, Lawal, who supported Peter Obi, Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, in the Presidential Election, has been a strong critic of Tinubu and his Government.