CBN: Emefiele Criticises Buhari’s Infrastructure Policy; Will The President Sack Him?

By Fola James

Godwin Emefiele, Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor was re-appointed by President Muhamamdu Buhari as the head of the nation’s apex bank despite reservations by many Nigerians on his performance.

First appointed to the position by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014, Buhari shocked not a few Nigerians when he re-appointed him in 2019.

The reason may not be far-fetched. The magazine learnt that Emefiele, a former managing director/ chief executive officer of Zenith Bank is close to some members of Buhari’s inner circle and enjoys their support.

But watchers of the administration, said the CBN Governor may have taken the support he enjoys among the president’s men too far after Emefiele criticized President Buhari’s infrastructure policy at the end of the monthly Monetary Policy Committee, MPC meeting, on Wednesday, in Abuja the nation’s capital.

Addressing journalists at the end of the 2-day meeting, the apex bank boss said the administration has not done enough in the area of provision of critical infrastructure in the country. He said poor infrastructure is having a ripple effect on inflation.

Emefiele who spoke on behalf of other MPC members said the Committee “reiterated the impact of poor infrastructure on rising domestic price levels, urging the Federal Government to prioritise investment in public utilities to improve the business environment.”

The comment, The Source learnt has elicited disquiet in the presidency “because some presidency officials are not happy that a top member of the cabinet could criticize the same government that he serves” a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said.

“Emefiele is holding the CBN position at the pleasure of President Buhari, who obviously does not want to sack him despite avalanche of open protest by some ministers, including vice president Yemi Osinbajo. Recall that Osinbajo recently accused him of not working with other ministers.

“If anyone is to be blamed at all, it is Emefiele who presides over a dysfunctional CBN,” another source in the presidency told the magazine on Thursday.

Osinbajo, had last month, upbraided the CBN Governor for working at cross purposes with other ministers.

According to the vice president, “there must be synergy between the fiscal and the monetary authority. We must be able to deal with the synergy, we must handle the synergy between the monetary authority, the CBN, and the fiscal side.

“Sometimes, it appears that there is competition, especially on the fiscal side. If you look at some of the interventions, you will find that those interventions are interventions that should be managed by ministries.

“The ministry of industry, trade and investment should handle MSMEs interventions, and we should know what the CBN is doing. In other words, if the CBN is intervening in the MSME sector, it should be with the full cooperation and consent of the ministry of industry.

The magazine learnt that a serious pressure is being exerted on President from inside and outside the administration to sack the apex bank boss.

Recently, Nigeria First Movement, NFM a group supporting President Buhari demanded his sack from office for non-performance. Citing reasons such as the continuous fall in the value of naira to the American Dollar, the group said Emefiele must resign or be forced out, for being responsible for federal government’s economic woes.

The group Coordinator, Augustine Richard in a statement said many Nigerians were disappointed with the tedious registration processes as part of the requirements for the e-naira.

Richard said Emefiele enjoyed the privilege of being the only CBN Governor to be re-appointed, in spite of this, the group pointed out, Emefiele has failed to use his position to turn the economy around, adding that the launch of the e-naira has proven this point.

NFM said, “the introduction and subsequent launch of the digital currency, eNaira, is perceived as the final nail in the country’s already doomed economy.

“We are ready to champion the call for Emefiele’s removal by staging a one-week protest that could potentially cripple economic activities in Abuja. We’re also ready to mobilise over 200 other pro-Buhari groups across the globe in the ‘mother of all protests’ that would hold simultaneously in Abuja, Lagos and London against the nation’s poor economic posture.

“Emiefele played a pivotal role in the collapse of the economy since his appointment as the CBN chief and before his arrival, the economy was said to be one of the fastest growing in the world. Shortly after his reappointment in 2019, Emefiele announced a five-year plan that targets double-digit growth in one of Africa’s largest economies.

“His approach to policy implementation, however, has left many in doubt, raising questions on how his key policy move, especially in the context of management of the exchange rate, benefits the economy, and the naira he sought to protect.”

The group further accused the CBN of rolling out various economic programmes which it said have no direct effects on the lives of Nigerians.

Richard further said in the statement that “on July 24, 2020, the CBN launched a series of non-intrant loan schemes under the AGSMEIS, MSMEDF, AADF and other loan schemes. The program attracted a lot of Nigerians, with millions of them seeking to join the program through all due process.

“For more than a year now, nothing has been done. The CBN under Emefile has shirked its primary responsibility of ensuring price stability and has embraced a more developmental role, in the hopes of naira stability.

“As confirmed by the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance, Rt. Hon. James Faleke, the CBN has failed to submit its Audited Account to the Office of the Auditor General (OAGF) for review, from 2010 to date.

“According to Kalu Ajah, chief executive officer at AfriSwiss Capital Assets Management Limited in Abuja, the CBN has pursued a strong naira policy and had sought to dampen imports. Well, imports have not declined and the naira is far from strong. One wonders if the import restrictions on items and capital controls were necessary or if the CBN should have devalued the naira earlier. I will say Nigeria did not benefit from the capital controls regime.

“The regulatory bank’s aggressive lending policy has been called into question as well, causing some concerns over the bank chief’s stewardship of the banking sector. The CBN is forcing banks to lend, and penalising non-lenders. These are shareholders’ funds being deployed via fiat.

“In October last year, the Central Bank fined 12 banks, including Citibank, First Bank of Nigeria, Guaranty Trust Bank, and Standard Chartered Bank N499 billion for failing to meet lending targets. It is another move that attracted criticism across the board,” Richard said.

Also on November 15, a civil society body, the Nigerian Youth Initiative for Good Governance, NYIGG called on President to sack Emefiele because the nation’s economy has wobbled under his watch as CBN Governor.

The group’s convener and national coordinator, Adeyemi Lukman Owolabi, in a statement said, “how can a man who claims to be a renowned economist on inauguration as CBN Governor meet the Naira exchange rate at N155 to a dollar and as at today is N570 to a dollar? This shows that his monetary and fiscal policies are nothing to write home about.

“The current state of our nose-diving economy calls for the concern of all. The leadership of Nigerian Youth Initiative for Good Governance (NTIGO) hereby calls for immediate removal of Mr Godwin Emefiele the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria for gross incompetency due to his inability to save the Nigerian economy from further failure as indicated through his ineptitude to provide viable economy, price control, a strong naira and a stable exchange rate.’

Advising Emefiele to take the path of honour, Owolabi said “he may choose to voluntary resign because we will be left with no choice than to mobilise Nigeria masses that are at the receiving ends of his failed monetary policy and financial mismanagement to occupy CBN until his removal is effected in the next seven days”.

The question is whether President Buhari will bow to pressure to remove the CBN Governor from office.