365Daily – Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has said the claim by Edo State Governor, Godwin Emefiele, that the Federal Government printed N60 billion in March, 2021, to augment allocation to states is misleading.
He said: “If you understand the concept of printing of money, it is about lending money. There is no need for all the controversy around money printing as if we are going into the factory to print naira and then distribute on the streets.
“It is very inappropriate for people to just give some coloration to the word ‘printing of money’ as if it is a foreign word coming from the sky.
“In 2015/2016, we were in a similar situation, but it is far worse today. We provided budget support facility to all the states of the country and that loan remains unpaid till now. We are going to insist on the states paying the loan back since they are effectively accusing us of giving them loans.
“Most countries of the world today are confronted by not just the health crisis from the COVID pandemic but also economic crisis. I keep saying this, it would be irresponsible of the Central Bank of Nigeria or any central bank to stand idle and refuse to support its government at this time. Whatever we do in Nigeria is being done in any clime.
“Nigeria is, unfortunately, in a very bad situation and we cannot pretend about it in the sense that we are facing problems about productivity output which is gross domestic product (GDP). We are working very hard to see how we can get our heads above water. We are also concerned with issues of inflation.
“For us to see some people playing some games, overheating his polity talking about printing of money, I think it is unfortunate and totally inappropriate. I would like to advise that this should stop. We should all work for the growth of our country and not play politics.”
On Thursday, April 15, Governor Obaseki accused the Federal Government of playing the ostrich about the state of the economy.
The Governor was defending his earlier disclosure that the Federal Government had to print N60 billion to augment the March allocation for the three tiers of Government to share because of Nigeria’s dwindling earnings.
Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, had responded to the claim, saying the ministry was unaware of it.