By Uche Mbah
The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has said that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Governor, Godwin Emefiele, is not to be blamed for the economic woes bedeviling the country.
Emefiele has been under fire from the Department of State for sundry allegations, including sponsoring terrorism.
While speaking at the Chatham House in London Monday, Obi blamed Nigeria’s weak fiscal environment for the country’s economic woes.
*Under our Government the CBN Governor will maintain his independence, he will be respected. Again, it is not the problem of the person there. Central Bank has a role of monetary policy. Then, you have the fiscal space. It’s like you go to a football match and the person who is supposed to be playing a particular wing is no longer there. You find people playing various wings”, he said.
There has been questions too of Emefiele’s priorities in fiscal disbursement, with many blaming him for the near total collapse of the Naira. But Obi insisted that it is the Executive environment he operates from that is to blame.
“The weakness of the fiscal space allowed the monetary space to take over… because of the weak governance structure, that is why we are able to do what we are doing”,he stated.
“Replacing Godwin (Emefiele) and putting somebody else there, with that level of fiscal rascality, which is what is fuelling our inflation and our rate of exchange today… these are some of the things we need to cut. As long as the government continues on that fiscal rascality, our situation will occur.”
