The Coalition of Civil Society Groups has expressed disappointment over call from a group, Arewa Youth Assembly that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele over allegation that his policies have plunged the county’s economy into comatose. The Coalition said this far from being correct. They made their dissatisfaction known in a press conference on Tuesday, September 14, 2021, in Abuja, where they described the call as laughable and unfortunate.
Speaking at the event, the president of the organization, Mr. Etuk Bassey Williams, the Coalition condemned, in strong terms, saying, “We condemn in strong terms the call for resignation of the CBN Governor by the Arewa Youth Assembly over an unsubstantiated and frivolous claim that the policies of the CBN has plunged the county’s economy into comatose. This is laughable and uncharitable. It is unfortunate that some individual will derive joy in an attempt to pull an achiever down.
“We observe the insincerity, and question the genuineness of the claim that the economy is bad today by the same people who asserted that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration inherited an economy that was in a shambles and worsened by a sharp drop in the prices of oil crude at the international market, empty treasury that resulted in the inability of many state governments to pay workers’ salaries, depleted foreign reserves, dilapidated infrastructure and long-standing insurgency and internal security challenges.
“It is common knowledge that expanding export is our surest way to make Naira regain value. It is very important to note that today, Nigeria gains most of its foreign exchange from the sales of crude oil. The implication of the above fact is that our over-reliance on crude oil which account for more than 90% of Nigerian’s foreign exchange determines the value of the Naira, hence the argument against the CBN Governor is false and meant to derail the economic and monetary policies of the Governor. The peddlers of this falsehood are ill-informed or just being mischievous”.
Also speaking to the newsmen, secretary of the group, Abubakar Ibrahim, lamented that instead of all Nigerians to shower praises on the CBN Governor, some uncharitable individuals could express such notion that Emefiele is rather working in the reverse order, insisting that they appreciate the CBN Governor for the roles he is playing in stimulating the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to enable production of goods for export.
“We appreciate the CBN Governor for making outstanding effort to stimulate the SMEs so as to produce goods that can be exported to enable us increase our foreign exchange earnings as well as improve living standard. Today we have witnessed massive support and motivation to rice, cocoa, and groundnut farmers with agric loans. He has also assisted the manufacturing industries with loans so as to help them produce quality goods that meet the global standard for exportation.
“We fear that the politicians are at it again to implore the same tactics used against the previous government just to have their way to power. Accusing the CBN Governor for plotting to contest for the presidency in 2023 or his connivance with politicians to defraud the government is most unfortunate, unbelievable and unfounded.
“Unfortunately, the falsehood is too many, on the disbursement of Covid-19 loan meant for indigent Nigeria, it is important to note that the CBN Governor was not involved, as a committee was responsible with direct involvement of ICPC and other ministries”, Ibrahim said.