Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has slammed his predecessor, Godwin Emefiele for undertaking policies which put the country’s apex bank in a bad light in the past few years.
Cardoso disclosed this in his speech on Friday at the
Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria’s (CIBN) 50th-anniversary event.
According to him, CBN suffered from corporate governance
failures, diminished institutional autonomy, a deviation from the core mandate,
and unorthodox use of monetary tools.
He also identified an inefficient and opaque foreign
exchange market that hindered clear access and a foray into fiscal activities
as significant challenges for the apex bank in the past few years.
“I am aware that events over the past few years have also
put the CBN in a bad light. These issues can be attributed to various factors,
such as corporate governance failures, diminished institutional autonomy of the
Central Bank of Nigeria, a deviation from the core mandate of the Bank,
unorthodox use of monetary tools, an inefficient and opaque foreign exchange
market that hindered clear access, a foray into fiscal activities under the
cover of development finance activities.
“There was also a lack of clarity in the relationship
between fiscal and monetary policies, among other challenges.
“Hitherto, the CBN had strayed from its core mandates and
was engaged in quasi-fiscal activities that pumped over N10tn into the economy
through almost different initiatives in sectors ranging from agriculture,
aviation, power, youth and many others. These distracted the Bank from
achieving its objectives and took it into areas with limited expertise,” he
said.
Cardoso, however, promised that the issues affecting the
Bank would be tackled under his watch.
He said, “Under my leadership, the Central Bank of Nigeria
will vigorously address these issues. We will tackle institutional
deficiencies, restore corporate governance, strengthen regulations, and
implement prudent policies. We assure investors and the business community that
the economy will experience significant stability in the short-to-medium term
as we recalibrate our policy toolkits and implement far-reaching measures.”
Emefiele spearheaded the controversial Naira redesign
Policy, resulting in the country’s currency scarcity and hardship for Nigerians
in the first quarter of 2023.
Recall that Emefiele was suspended as CBN governor in June
by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The embattled CBN governor was recently granted N300 million
bail over a N1.2 billion alleged procurement fraud.
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Cardoso, you were not appointed to list reasons of failure, if you cannot solve the problems, resign already.
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