The Nigeria Citizens Action Group (NCAG), a coalition of 35 civil society organisations, has supported the call of concerned Nigerians that Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, resigns his position with immediate effect to save the country from total collapse.
Comrade Isah Abubakar, Convener, NCAG, in a joint statement, said, “The Nigeria Citizens Action Group (NCAG), a coalition of Thirty-Five (35) Civil Society Organisations, is constraint to lend its voice with that of numerous other concerned Nigerians that have been calling on Mr Godwin Emefiele, Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor (CBN) to resign with immediate effect to save the country from total collapse, which is imminent.”
The coalition noted that the call became necessary following the extensive review of the tenure of Emefiele as the head of the nation’s apex bank.
The statement explained that it has come to the sad conclusion that Emefiele should humbly step aside and allow a more competent person to step in, to save the country from total collapse.
“We understand that it will be difficult for him and his hangers on to reason with us, but we wish to beg on them to put on their garment of patriotism and save our country,” the statement explained.
The statement noted that it was during the formative stage of the first tenure of Emefiele that monies meant for the procurement of arms to fight Boko Haram terrorists and budding bandits in other parts of the country were converted to campaign funds and some given to “prayer warriors”, adding that many prominent Nigerians are facing trials for benefitting from that bazaar and wondered why he is still enjoying total freedom till date
It said that when Adedoyin Salami, a member of the country’s monetary policy in 2017, cautioned the CBN Governor against the excessive funding of the Federal Government which was 20 fold higher than the approved threshold. It added that Emefiele refused to take correction, lamenting that many sound economists described Emefiele’s Monetary Policy as “reckless and illegal” which will set the Nigerian economy for a “Big Fall”.
It noted that the big fall is here as $1 is currently equivalent to over N545.
The group noted that the CBN acted in error and was guided by copy and paste policy when its included foodstuff import prohibition lists despite having the foreknowledge that the country largely depends on subsistence farming which was under serious threat by bandits, terrorists, and farmers/herders crisis in various part of the country.
It said that currently, Nigerians have been thrown into a state of acute hunger, which is contributing to the rising insecurity in the country.
The group further stressed that the CBN under the watch of its incumbent Governor claimed to have reeled out several interventions running into trillions of Naira whose impact could only be felt on papers not in real life, stressing that many of the failed and corruption challenged programs of the CBN is not limited to Anchor-Borrowers Programme.
The statement noted that recently, the United Arab Emirates government arrested, convicted, and blacklisted some Bureau de Change Operators of Nigerian origin who have been fingered in financing terrorism globally, adding that the monies have been passing through the ineffective eyes of the CBN unnoticed into the hands of terrorists.
It said it took the intervention of foreign government to block such a channel, as the CBN under Emefiele is more concerned with frivolities rather than the general well-being of the country.
The coalition, therefore, called on the CBN governor to resign with immediate effect to allow an independent and hitch-free probe of his tenure.
It also called on the Federal Government to delist rice and some food materials from import prohibition items, saying that this would help to reduce the prices of food that is beyond the reach of common Nigerians.
The statement called on the anti-graft agencies to arrest Emefiele with immediate effect to ascertain the level of his involvement in the arms procurement scandal and other programmes that failed under his watch due to growing corruption.
