Confused by the failure of his deceitful assurances to President Mohammadu Buhari that the new Naira bills can be printed in the country, Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), in a twist of fate, is making desperate efforts to get presidential approval to print new Naira bills abroad to make up for the shortfall in the inadequate ones printed domestically.
This unthoughtful request of his implies that the cash crisis induced by the scarcity of the new Naira notes around the country may last longer than many Nigerians had thought.
President Muhammadu Buhari embarrassingly disclosed this in his meeting with the All Progressives (APC) governors last week.
The governors, according to Theliberationnews sources, had expressed misgivings over the currency swap’s timing and its spinoffs of hardship across all classes and parts of the country.
President Buhari also disclosed his frustration because, according to him, Emefiele had assured him before implementing the currency policy that the CBN had the capacity to flood the market with quality currency bills while mopping up the old notes from the country. Now that the failed policy had put this country in a severe cash crunch, the mighty and lowly are scampering for cash from deposits banks claiming shortages of the new Naira bills. Even a former president of the country reportedly approached a governor of his state asking for new Naira bills bailout.
In view of the precarious financial situation of the country and the huge debt burdens on its neck, printing the new Naira bills abroad will deplete the nation’s foreign reserve. Also, the official promise of sustaining the deadline of February 10, or even anytime in the next few months might become unrealistic. The logistical burden of signing a contract and starting the process may impose an uncertain deadline and compound the woes of Nigerians who are already groaning under the new policy with long queues, people slumping and setting off chaos at bank offices and ATM points across the country.
One of the governors who were at the meeting reliably told Theliberationnews: “The president said Emefiele had assured him he had all the processes in place before the policy began.
“He said Emefiele gave a bill on what it would cost to implement the policy and the president approved and signed. He is now surprised that even the bank CEOs don’t have enough money.”
The president also observed that the bank chief executives have been silent about Emefiele’s claims that he had furnished the banks with enough money.
“The president said the CEOs are quiet because they are afraid of backlash from the CBN,” said the governor.
The bank CEOs have neither confirmed nor denied the CBN governor’s assertion. But their inability to dispense the new money bills indicates paralysis of the banks’ operations in carrying out the new Naira bills policy.
The governors advised the president to postpone the deadline and allow both new and old Naira bills to exist side by side because it would enable the old notes to ease gradually out of the market.
The governors believe that President Muhammadu Buhari is being held hostage by some individuals in the presidency who want to sabotage the elections and turn people against him.
This was also recently hinted at by the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai who said some fifth columnists in the villa who had lost out in the APC primaries were responsible for the twin troubles of fuel scarcity and cash crunch. He said this after the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, had cried out at a rally in Abeokuta about fifth columnists who wanted to derail his presidential fortunes. In Ekiti, he said their design was to foist an interim national government on the country.
Already, the country has witnessed two bursts of protests in Ibadan and Benin with another one in Abeokuta on Monday. We now have an avoidable omen of unrest hanging over major cities in the country.
Another serving governor disclosed to Theliberationnews that his state was just recovering from the EndSars destructions and would not want to go through that nightmare, again.
Theliberationnews reported the outcome of President Buhari’s meeting with the APC governors last week where he asked the governors to give him seven days to revert to them on his next course of action.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi, had asked suffering Nigerians to bear with the CBN governor. The PDP flag bearer described the suffering as “little inconvenience,’” while Obi conveyed the same sentiment and described it as “some inconvenience.”
Despite Emefiele’s having wasted hundreds of billions of Naira to locally print, largely unavailable new Naira bills, he is, under his new wasteful request, demanding presidential approval for hundreds of billions of hard currency to address avoidable challenges created by his parochially thoughtless Naira policy. Nigerians, for now, remain at his mercy.
