Emefiele, Sanusi pull punches over who is right on Nigeria’s sick economy.

What began on Friday as an innocuous lecture in Abuja has turned into a full blown battle between Godwin Emefiele, current Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor and Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, immediate past CBN governor.

The battle is over who is right or wrong on the subject of Nigeria’s prostrate economy. On Friday, Sanusi while delivering  a lecture titled, “A plan to restore confidence, direction and growth,” queried the quality of strategic thinking within the President’s economic team. He all but came short of calling Emefiele’s CBN a willing accomplice in Buhari’s alleged mismanagement of the economy.

Said he, “The CBN-FGN relationship is no longer independent. In fact, one could argue that their relationship has become unhealthy.

“CBN’s claims on the FGN now top N4.7tn — equal to almost 50 per cent of the FGN’s total domestic debt. This is a clear violation of the Central Bank Act of 2007 (Section 38.2) which caps advances to the FGN at five per cent of last year’s revenues. Has CBN become the government’s lender of last or first resort?”

Sanusi also took a swipe at Emefiele’s handling of the nation’s foreign exchange market, stating categorically that it was a sham and the major reason the country’s proposed plan to borrow $30 billion to reflate the economy will meet a brick wall.

“I can tell you for free, if the Senate today approves that we can borrow $30bn, honestly, no one will lend to us. It should be approved and I will like to see how you will go to the international market with an economy that has five exchange rates.

Read also:  No Buhari! No serious lender ‘ll consider Nigeria for $30bn loan- Sanusi

“There is one rate for petroleum marketers, there is inter-bank rate, there is another for money market operators such as Western Union, MoneyGram, there is bureau de change rate and there is a special rate that you get when you call the CBN for a transaction,” he said.

Emefiele’s team fired back at Sanusi on Saturday alleging that he was part of the rot that laid waste the Nigerian economy. He was accused of playing to the gallery on a subject that required sobriety and calculated response.

The apex bank, in a statement signed by Isaac Okorafor, Director, Corporate Communication, said, “We should not forget that the seed of our current economic crisis was planted by the failure of those who occupied public office in the past but failed to act in the long term interest of the Nigerian economy. It is easy to criticize from outside.

“The channels for advice and contribution of ideas on the current economic situation by all patriotic Nigerians are open. It is rather unfortunate that some people have chosen to play to the gallery and to make statements to disparage those in leadership at this time in total insensitivity to the larger interests of the Nigerian economy.”

The CBN cautioned, “It is always easier and the grass greener when people are out of office. The challenge we face today is a choice between pandering to the established interest in Nigeria’s speculative economy and the protection of the wages of the real stakeholders who work hard on fixed incomes. For they are the core victims of Naira depreciation.

The CBN denied claims that it had instituted multiple forex windows that could adversely affect the economy.

“It is not true that CBN allocates dollars. There is no where in the world that the Central bank sits by and allows vicious speculators to solely distort the value of its currency endlessly. All central banks intervene to buy or sell in the market to ensure that the local currency is protected from dubious attacks,” the statement read.

Sanusi said he remained resolute in his views and would not be cowed by sentiments.

Management of Nigeria’s sick economy remains President Buhari’s biggest headache. Analysts have not only accused his economic management team of ineptitude but had, indeed, openly canvassed for the sack of the likes of Emefiele (CBN governor), Kemi Adeosun (Finance Minister) and Udo Udoma (Minister for Budget and National Planning).

 

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