Emefiele Most Competent to Succeed Buhari, Concerned Nigerians Insist

Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole in Abuja

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Godwin Emefiele is the most competent and qualified public officer holder to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023, concerned Nigerians have claimed.

Also, the concerned citizens under the aegis of Emefiele Mobilisation Team (EMT) dispelled speculation that Emefiele abandoned his mandate as the helmsman of the apex bank for his aspiration to succeed the president in 2023.

 EMT’s spokesman, Bashir Mohammed made the clarification in a statement he issued yesterday, debunking reports that Emefiele had completely abandoned his duties at the apex bank and has now fully gone into politics.

 Disputing the reports in his statement, Mohammed clarified that Emefiele did not abandon his mandate to pursue presidential aspiration.

 He, however, noted that Emefiele “is qualified and competent to be the next President of Nigeria. At the moment he is yet to show interest in running for the nation’s top job.

“If indeed he were interested in contesting for the post of President, he would do so in accordance with constitutional provisions and would without a doubt, be the capable, competent, seasoned, intelligent leader Nigeria requires in such challenging times.”

 Mohammed explained that the attention of concerned citizens had been drawn to reports tackling Emefiele that he “is involved in politics,” revealing that some Civil Society Organisation (CSOs) fabricated these claims.

 He noted that Emefiele “has not stated or indicated in any way that he is interested in vying for the position of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria contrary to the claims of the CSOs.

“Emefiele has not been involved in any political activity of any kind, talk less of compromising the apex bank through purported political activities.”

 Rather, according to Mohammed, Emefiele remains solely focused on his job of ensuring monetary and price stability, maintaining external reserves, providing economic and financial advice to the Federal Government and promoting a sound financial system in Nigeria.

 Recently, the spokesman pointed out that Emefiele launched the 100 for 100 Policy for Production and Productivity (PPP), a CBN intervention designed “to stimulate investments in Nigeria’s priority sectors with the core objective of boosting production and productivity.

“He has also unveiled the Mega Rice and Maize Pyramids in the FCT and Kaduna recently, both being results of the massively successful Emefiele-led Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, a programme that financed over 4 million farmers, improved their productivity, increased rice output, reduced Agric imports and saved the country scarce forex.

“Nigeria’s GDP is on the rise following its 3.4 per cent growth in 2021, the fastest growth rate in seven years. This is contrary to claims that Mr Emefiele’s subterranean interest in the presidency has become a massive distraction to the CBN and the financial sector of the country.”

Mohammed rhetorically asked that the allegation of the CSOs that CBN’s money “is being wasted to fund different groups is reckless and dangerous. What evidence do they have to back up such statements?”

The group clarified reports that CBN “spends N58.6 billion to print 2.5 billion. A major Nigerian newspaper headlines read, CBN spends N58.6 billion to print 2.5 billion Naira Notes and reported that the CBN spent N58.618 billion to print 2.518 billion Naira Notes.

“The newspaper took advantage of Nigerians’ tendency to read headlines and draw conclusions without reading the full story. The newspaper deliberately set out to create the impression that the CBN used N58.6 billion to print notes worth N2.5 billion, the result of which has been an outcry by Nigerians who took the bait and are now pointing accusatory fingers at the CBN.”

He pointed to CBN’s Currency Operations 2020 Annual Report, saying it was clearly stated that CBN spent N58.6bn to print Naira notes valued at N1.063 trillion.

In other words, according to EMT’s spokesman, the cost of printing 1 Naira Note was N18, a cost consistent with global currency printing averages.

In line with his goal of ensuring that the banknotes need of the economy are met, Mohammed said the apex bank approved “an indent of 2.5 billion pieces of banknotes of various denominations in 2020 and engaged the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc for production who delivered 100 per cent of the approved indent.”