Former Education Minister Oby Ezekwesili has claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari runs the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from Aso Rock Villa.
This was stated by Ezekwesili while condemning the naira redesign policy, which has caused untold economic hardship for Nigerians.
During an interview on Channels TV’s 2023 Verdict, Ezekwesili described how she warned Nigerians that the president had taken over the Central Bank of Nigeria.
She contended that the apex bank had already been told that the CBN does not belong to the president and that the monetary authority should not be transferred to the villa.
The former minister claimed she was insulted years ago when she revealed that Aso Rock had infiltrated the CBN.
According to her;
I said it publicly many years ago. I said the monetary policy is being compromised because it was evident that it was being run from the Villa. I said it in this country. What I find very intriguing is how people just don’t follow the things that are spoken.
As I’ve said about what we’re seeing today, I got insulted for them, but I couldn’t care about who insulted me, I stand on the path of truth. And here right? Watching every one of those who insulted me for calling attention to the things that were wrong with our politics and the management of our economic policy coming to where I was, let me say years ago.
So I have no word for the president, because frankly, I’m not one of those Nigerians with any expectation from this president.
Ezekwesili went on to say that the only thing she wants from Buhari is for him to ensure that the election took place and that the country had a new government formed by Nigerian citizens.
She went on to say that Nigeria is currently at the top of the list of indicators of fragility.
Nigeria is in a state of higher end fragility, we have always done number 12, number 13. I think last time, we were number 13 on the fragile state index, which means that we are close enough to a failed state. So that level of fragility, you want to push it further. People think that the personal interests of this political rascals should take the country into a state of implosion, she said.
The former minister maintained that the monetary policy had become so completely immersed in the politics of the country, which is such a disgrace.
Frankly speaking, I don’t even know whether there are economists left in the Central Bank of Nigeria. Because when I look at the serial failure to think through policies, even what we call policy timelines, or to think through the policies on the basis of the evidence that’s on the table, so that data is helping to drive your decision, modern inputs or anecdote, or the whims and caprices of those that you report to, the central bank is compromised and it has to be number one thing on the agenda, she stated.
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