
![Alt text](/uploads/meffy/good-man.jpg)

Dear Dr. Godwin Emefiele,

I write this open letter to you in the hopes that you will read it and consider what is becoming an urgent request from the ranks of the well-read and the growing cohorts of simple country folk. You did, I recall, make it a cardinal objective of your administration when you assumed office in 2014 to ensure that the Central Bank of Nigeria was more people-focused than it had ever been. You insisted that the programmes and policies of the bank would be calibrated towards the creation of jobs for the expanding population of Nigerians, especially the youths.

One could have written off your remarks as the usual quip of the newly minted senior public servant eager to win applause. I confess that I was somewhat sceptical. Until I began to study the launch of your programmes. You adopted a charismatic, even cavalier, approach that signalled to the people that you would do everything in your power to strengthen their hopes in their Commander-in-Chief, President Muhammadu Buhari and in their nation.

If I am to be fair, it often came across as you attempting to cover up for those managing the fiscal affairs of the Nigerian economy by embarking on all manner of Tom, Dick and Harry projects. This is what led me to arrive at the conclusion that I arrived at below. So, let me walk you through what I had considered to be some of your weak points and how I learnt that you were indeed adhering to international best practices.

**The Mainstreet Business Loans for Medium-Sized Businesses ($ 600 billion)**

Sir, while I accord your interventions with duly deserved acclaim, I am hard pressed to note that you have probably pushed the limits of your mandate much farther than any Central Bank Governor in living memory. Sometimes, I have wondered why the revered institution has had to be involved in the disbursing loans directly to small and medium scale businesses across Nigeria. It was a late evening phone call with a friend in the United States of America which offered me a more unbiased lens through which to view your actions. PD, as I call her, informed me that even the Federal Reserve Bank (the parallel to Nigeria&#39;s Central Bank) has been directly trying to rescue small and medium sized businesses in that country with loans. Take as an example, the Mainstreet loans programme for which the Federal Reserve earmarked $600 billion towards medium-scale businesses to the tune of between $1 to $25 million per business.

**The Interventions to Rescue Big Companies**

PD informed me further that the Federal Reserve Bank made extraordinary moves to rescue many of the large companies that were previously perceived as being too big to fail. Companies such as Bears Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mae, and the American International Group (AIG). Today, the American economy has become the better for those interventions.

**The Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme (YEDP)** breathed a fresh wave of optimism among youth who were palpably excited about the possibilities for growth. A young niece of mine was a beneficiary and I remember how excited she was to start her fashion business on a fresh footing. The programme, which offers up to 3 million Naira with an interest rate of 9%.

**The CBN&#39;s Pharmaceutical Intervention Fund for Covid-19.**

Your decision to channel 100 billion Naira towards pharmaceutical companies in the fight against Covid-19 won my heart. Here was a man who understood the need to firm up the nation&#39;s ability to fight disease in order to remain economically viable and earn revenue.

**The Targeted Credit Facility for Households**

I recall with a continuing sense of satisfaction the look on the faces of two of my kinsmen in the village who secured the Targeted Credit Facility loans in the wake of Covid-19. Both were able to stock up on direly needed food items and medicines. To refresh the memory, this was a time when most employees and businesses earned nothing as a result of the suspension of a considerable number of physical human activities. I consider it a master stroke to have both interventions addressing similar needs.

**The Agri-business Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme**

This particular programme won the hearts of a vast number of Nigerians. I am not sure about the number of people who actually benefited from this but it has been popular and I believe someone knows someone who received this. Kudos to you for a truly insightful package of programmes. This is vision demonstrated especially in view of the traitorous oil prices and the effect that has had on our economy.

**CBN 100 for 100 Policy on Production and Productivity**

In order to stimulate the flow of credit to the real sector of the economy and reverse our country&#39;s over-dependence on importation, you launched the 100 for 100 Policy on Production and Productivity. While I do not personally know any of the companies which benefited, I am proud to see that over 28 companies have been boosted with over 23 billion Naira. People are happier and so am I. There is hope.

**My earnest plea**

Dr. Emefiele, Sir, to take you back to the first paragraph of this letter, I would like to ask you to consider making the painful but important sacrifice of foregoing the remaining two years of your tenure as Central Bank Governor in order to replicate and expand your programmes in higher public office. People are hopeful and have your name on their lips. You can seal your successes with the power of presidential fiat.

**Obafemi Sam-Peters wrote in from Lagos.**


I would like to thank you for your assistance in securing a loan to start my hair business when

#MyLetterToEmefiele: Will the Good Man Reward our Request to Run for President?


![Alt text](/uploads/meffy/governor.jpg)

**A look at Emefiele&#39;s 7 years as CBN Governor**

The four key objectives of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) are: to ensure monetary and price stability; issue legal tender currency; maintain external reserves to safeguard international value of the legal tender currency; promote a sound financial system in Nigeria; and act as banker as well as provide economic and financial advice to the Federal Government.

Therefore, the first measurement of whether the apex bank has delivered on its mandate is to look at how well these four parameters has fared.

Specifically, the CBN Act of 2007 charges the banking sector regulator with the overall control and administration of the monetary and financial sector policies of the Federal Government.

When Godwin Emefiele assumed office as the 10th indigenous Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria in June 3, 2014, he made known his desire to lead a CBN that spends its energies on building resilient financial system that can serve the growth and development needs of the Nigeria economy.

Coming to the table with almost three decades of banking experience, Emefiele unveiled a 10-point agenda, which spelt out his plan to make the CBN more people-focused.

He said the Bank&#39;s policies and programmes would be geared towards supporting job creation and fostering inclusive growth, in addition to key macroeconomic concerns such as inflation and exchange rate stability.

An unrepentant optimist about the potential of Nigeria and its citizens, Emefiele, in the past seven years, worked closely with the country&#39;s fiscal authorities, to ensure economic stability in Nigeria with its intervention in critical sectors of the Nigerian economy.

To put this into context on Friday, June 4, 2021, Emefiele told Journalists at the final inspection tour of Dangote Fertilizer plant that concerning his seventh year as CBN governor, &quot;I give thanks to God that we are here to serve the country.

&quot;And I feel happy that one of those projects we have nurtured together with the bankers; the $17 billion project where the foreign and local banks contributed close to $10 billion while the Dangote industries contributed the rest as equity is becoming a reality.

&quot;For me today, it is a dream came true because a few years back, some foreign investors doubted it when I told them about.&quot;

Some experts termed this people-oriented policies &#39;Economic Nationalism&#39;. This has dominated every discourse in recent time where CBN&#39;s activities are discussed.

Incidentally, President Mohammadu Buhari announced in his inaugural speech that he will create 100 million jobs in the next 10 years. To some analysts, this is in line with CBN programmes.

Economists refer to Economic Nationalism as an economic policy perspective favouring government intervention in the market process to correct market failures and promote general welfare of the people.

Such interventions can be aimed at a variety of political or economic objectives, such as promoting economic growth, increasing employment, raising wages, raising or reducing prices, promoting income equality, managing the money supply and interest rates, increasing profits, among others.

This phrase did not start today or with Godwin Emefiele and former US President Donald Trump. Nigeria in 1972 under the former Head of State General Yakubu Gowon (Rtd), promulgated the Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Decree also known as indigenisation decree. The aim of the policy was to create opportunities for Nigerian indigenous businessmen; maximise local retention of profits and to raise intermediate capital and goods production.

Unfortunately, successive administrations lost the vision and Nigeria drifted away from economic realities to the point that almost every conceivable thing is imported as value added production became dead.

Emefiele assumed the mantle of leadership of the Central Bank of Nigeria in June 2014, and was almost immediately confronted by high inflation, falling oil revenue, value-eroding local currency as speculators and round-trippers held sway. Embarrassingly, the economy became &#39;dollarised.&#39;

The CBN, under Emefiele&#39;s leadership, came up with new strategies to navigate the Nigerian economy through hurdles such as the challenge of foreign exchange inflow, the exchange rate, the economic recession, stagflation, financial inclusion and the gap in the value chains of majority of crops in Nigeria.

The astute banker saw the situation as peculiar, and initiated peculiar policies with a little touch of conventional economic theories.

The policies enunciated under Emefiele towards promoting price and monetary stability, exchange rate stability, financial system stability, as well as efforts to spur growth through development finance interventions is exactly what Economic Nationalism entails.

The organised labour is interested in the entire architecture, mainly because all these are geared towards promoting the welfare of Nigerians through job creation and increased local productivity.

According to the labour leaders, these policies are employment spinning, especially in the agriculture and textile industries. The bailout fund to states helped to offset salary backlogs. The items designated not eligible for foreign Exchange (forex) has curbed massive importation and allowed local manufacturing to grow via Import substitution.

In spite of scathing criticism from some analysts who argue that the Bank has gone beyond its monetary policy mandate by delving into developmental issues, which indeed the CBN Act (2007) as amended, recognises, Emefiele and his team at the CBN have remained committed to the patriotic goal of ensuring economic stability, through the Bank&#39;s numerous interventions.

In the eye of some analysts

To a public policy analyst, Mr Innocent Onyeabuchi, the Anchor Borrowers&#39; Programme (ABP) of the apex bank revolutionised rice production, as it currently has over 925, 000 farmers enrolled, with over 10 million jobs created (direct and indirect).

The Investors and Exporters&#39; Forex Window created by Emefiele attracted over $50 billion investments into the country within a spate of three years.

Onyeabuchi further said the central bank governor&#39; has been able to rally commercial banks&#39; chief executives to support his vision in growing the economy by setting aside five per cent of their annual profit to finance agriculture and the real sector to create jobs and wealth.

In what he termed a tripod structure erected by the CBN to enhance financial inclusion strategy, Onyeabuchi commended the bank in his recent article.

By this, the CBN is promoting the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL). The Bankers&#39; Committee and NIPOST agreed to establish the national microfinance bank in 774 local government areas of the country to make cheap and sustainable credit at single digit interest rate available to the economic active but poor rural dwellers, particularly the farmers and petty businesses.

Some industry watchers have also concluded that restriction on the 43 items is Emefiele&#39;s own protectionist agenda designed to drastically reduce imports and encourage local production and create jobs, in line with Global economic protectionism like the BREXIT, and in particular, the unending trade war between United States of America and China.

According to Onyeabuchi, it has encouraged foreign direct investments (FDI) into Nigeria and importantly, Emefiele has coined his own brand of economic nationalism – Produce, Add Value and Export (PAVE).

In agreement with Onyeabuchi, General Secretary of the National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGWTN), Comrade Issa Aremu at an interactive session in Lagos stated: &quot;There is availability of local rice in Nigeria. The argument of CBN concerning the 43 items is tenable. Why should we make scarce foreign exchange available for people to import products that we can produce within the country? For us today, that has protected a lot of jobs.

&quot;I think we should commend the CBN and encourage the apex bank to continue in its good job. We have to support CBN because if Nigeria can produce those 43 items locally, our factories will recover. Already, about 2.8million jobs have been created through the CBN (ABP) interventions. &quot;You can imagine if we replicate that in other sectors like Textile and others. Emefiele has a way of interacting with stakeholders and taking ideas from such interactions into consideration, so he is a comrade,&quot; Aremu said.

He, however, advised that the country, through CBN should work towards a single-digit inflation rate, saying the CBN should be supported by all and sundry to revive the comatose manufacturing sector of Nigeria.

&quot;I must say that the re-appointment of the CBN governor for second term is commendable. From the day he assumed office as the governor of CBN, his goal has been to have a monetary policy that will improve production and create jobs. For us, you can agree with me that if there are no companies, there will be no workers and if there are no workers there cannot be a union.&quot;

Specifically, the CBN, within the period, has, among other bold actions, inspired the rice revolution through its famed ABP, which has led to a near zero importation of rice into the country. The governor has also been at the fore of pushing for a diversification of the country&#39;s revenue base with emphasis on agriculture and small businesses. Emefiele equally pushed through measures geared at reducing the huge sums spent by the country on importing items such as fish and rice, which went as high as N1.3 trillion a year.

In the course of Emefiele&#39;s tenure as governor, the Bank has also introduced critical interventions such as the Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility, NEMSF, the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading-Payment Assurance Facility, NBET-PAF, the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative, and the Shared Agent Network Expansion Facility, SANEF, among others, to directly support enterprises with huge potential for job creation, conservation of foreign exchange, import substitution as well as financial inclusion.

Equally desirous of promoting a strong and credible payment system as well as deepening financial inclusion, the CBN has approved the licensing of more Payment Service Banks (PSBs). Only recently, the CBN governor announced measures aimed at deepening the foreign exchange market, providing more liquidity, and creating more transparency in the administration of Diaspora remittances into Nigeria. With this move, all beneficiaries shall have unfettered access and utilisation to such foreign currency proceeds, either in forex cash or in their domiciliary account.

Also, Emefiele announced an extension of the moratorium on the apex bank&#39;s intervention programmes. He sued for interest rate reduction, creation of a N100 billion targeted credit facility; N100 billion health sector intervention facility and N1 trillion for the manufacturing sector. Some other measures included strengthening the central bank&#39;s Loan to Deposit Ratio (LDR) policy and regulatory forbearance.

President Muhammadu Buhari did not hesitate to recommend Godwin Emefiele for a second term in office, a rarity, considering that the CBN governor was appointed by a previous administration with different political leaning.

Other Emefiele-led intervention

As part of efforts to stimulate infrastructural development across the country, the CBN, working with the fiscal authorities also established a N15 trillion infrastructure development company (Infraco).

In addition, Emefiele was also instrumental to the formation of the private-sector-led Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID), which was able to mobilise billions of naira and has immensely supported the country&#39;s COVID-19 fight by setting up healthcare facilities across the country as well as in distributing palliatives to states.

The health sector facility provided loans to pharmaceutical companies to expand/open their drug manufacturing plants in the country and also for hospitals and healthcare practitioners to expand/build health facilities.

In all, the CBN recently disclosed that 585,593 beneficiaries have received N462.722 billion as at May 28, 2021, from its various intervention schemes.

A breakdown of this showed that from January 2021 to date, N157.517 billion has been disbursed for 29 real sector projects under the Real Sector Support Facility- Differentiated Cash Reserve Requirement (RSSF-DCRR).

Also, from January 2021 to date, N26.008 billion has been disbursed for 10 projects under the COVID-19 manufacturing intervention schemes, while N255.992 billion have been disbursed for 78 projects under the CMIS from January 2020 till May 28, 2021. A total of 91 healthcare projects have also been funded to the tune of N97 billion under the Healthcare Sector Intervention Facility (HSIF) as at May 28, 2021; just as the sum of N111,706,807,536.11 have been disbursed by the CBN under Agri-Business/Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS) to 29,023 beneficiaries as at May 28, 2021. In the same vein, in line with its desire to stimulate output growth, the sum of N3, 198, 911, 438.20 have also been disbursed under the Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI) to 341 beneficiaries as at May 28, 2021, while the sum of N253, 447,787,865 have been also been so far been disbursed under the targeted credit facility to 548, 345 beneficiaries as at May 28, 2021. The central bank recently announced that the Monetary Policy Committee has approved the raising of the targeted credit facility from the N300 billion it was increased to in March this year, to N400 billion.

Also in line with its drive for youth empowerment, the sum of N3, 004, 5555,000 have been disbursed under the Nigerian Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) to 7,057 beneficiaries as at May 28, 2021, while the sum of N85, 190, 160, 367.80 have been disbursed under Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF) to 746 beneficiaries as at May 28, 2021 and the sum of N6 billion have been disbursed under SANEF to 14 beneficiaries as at May 28, 2021.

Furthermore, the sum of N173, 419,822.07 has been disbursed under the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) to 67 beneficiaries as at May 28, 2021. YEDP disbursement by geo-political zone showed that for the South-west, 39 beneficiaries got N98, 570,852.07; North-central, 11 beneficiaries got N28, 805, 740; and for the South-east, eight beneficiaries received N22, 050,000. In addition, for the South-south, six beneficiaries received N16, 023,230; the North-west had two beneficiaries which received N4, 970,000 and the North-east had one beneficiary which got N3,000,000 A breakdown of the N100 billion healthcare facility also showed that applications have so far been received for 222 projects valued at N177.424 billion. Out of the 222 projects, 91 projects, that is 41 per cent of total HSIF valued at N97.444 billion have been approved and disbursed as at May 28, 2021 among others.

Need to do more

Although, a herd of experts and policy analysts have criticised the apex banking sector regulator on the grounds that it is entering areas that are meant for other government ministries and that the best way to solve a problem is not to throw money at it, others have equally agreed that the CBN has achieved a lot of positives that deserve commendation.

It is said to him whom much is given, much is expected, the Emefiele-led CBN would have to redouble its efforts in the area of price stability as well as do more to boost forex flows in order to guarantee exchange rate stability and boost the external reserves which presently are at $34 billion.

This is because with inflation at 18.2 per cent as of May 2021, it leads to income redistribution and brings about weak purchasing power.

Likewise, rising prices neutralise the money that one earns from investments. That is, inflation is effectively the reverse of compound interest.

That is why CBN needs to continue to take steps to see that inflation returns to single-digit. In addition, the monetary authorities must continue to work with relevant fiscal authorities to lower the rate of unemployment in the country presently put at 33.3 per cent.

Emefiele is a recipient of the prestigious Zik Prize for professional leadership as well as several other awards from leading Nigerian and international media organisations, for the role he has played in the financial stability and economic growth of the country. Indeed, optimists are expectant of more awards for the banker.


The four key objectives of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) are: to ensure monetary and price stability; issue legal tender currency;

A look at Emefiele 7 Years as CBN Governor


![Alt text](/uploads/meffy/praise.jpg)

THE 11th second-term running Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, turns 60 today.

As a sexagenarian myself, I bear witness to the significance of the gift of worthy six-decade life in an ever precarious world of insecurity and COVID-19 pandemic with its notorious Delta variant.

Emefiele&#39;s inspiring profile is a delight of writers and members of commentariat alike. There are enough positive word counts on the life and indelible landmarks of a multiple degrees holder in Finance and insurance, former lecturer at the first generation University of Nigeria Nsukka, an alumnus of Executive Education at Stanford University, Harvard University (2004) and Wharton School of Business (2005) and former Group Managing Director of a leading bank in Africa: Zenith Bank. Emefiele was born on August 4, 1961 in Lagos.

His parents originally hailed from Ika South, Agbor of Delta State. A confluence of &quot;Centre of Excellence&quot; (Lagos) and a &quot;Big heart&quot; (Delta) makes a great compatriot in whom many Nigerians are at home with. Young Emefiele attended primary education in Government Primary School, Victoria Island (formerly Ansar-U-Den Primary School, Igbosere), Lagos, before proceeding to Maryland Comprehensive Secondary School, Ikeja, Lagos.

Emefiele&#39;s cosmopolitan disposition, humility, modesty, fairness to all and tenacity of policy purpose and focus point to the strength of multiple identities in a diverse Federal Republic like Nigeria. I agree with the American talk show host, television producer, author, and philanthropist, Oprah Winfrey that &quot;The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate&quot;.

The essential Emefiele is an activist 11th CBN Governor (Bankers&#39; Banker) and Development Central Banker. Seven years after eventful activist independent central banking, Emefiele has cut a commendable clout as a Governor with an eye on the bigger picture of the economy. He has remarkably balanced the Bank&#39;s mandate of monetary and price stability, with the development objectives of national economy. In seven years, CBN has recorded significant successes with respect to price and financial stability and macro economics despite the pressures of centrifugal forces. First is his prompt agenda setting.

Appointed in 2014, by former President Goodluck Jonathan, Emefiele in his inaugural speech espoused &quot;Entrenching Macroeconomic Stability and a Engendering Economic Development in Nigeria.&quot; On reappointment by President Muhammadu Buhari he consolidated on the achievements of the first tenure through his popularized five-year policy thrust for another term of five years (2019-2024). The CBN within the context of its enabling Act continues to maintain sound financial structure, promote monetary stability, safeguard the value of Naira and stable exchange rate, proving to be a financial adviser to the federal government in the areas of price and exchange rate management, development financing, building foreign reserves and employment creation.

On Exchange rate management, there have been creative interventionist measures which include flexible exchange rates (in interbank market) to multiple windows FX management for whole sale, invisible, small and medium enterprises (SME) and Investors/Exporters windows. Rate stability is the constant factor.

Notwithstanding a sharp drop in crude oil prices, and reduction in Nigeria&#39;s oil production quota, as well as the significant decline in government revenue and foreign exchange earnings as a result of the impact of two recessions in quick successions in addition to COVID-19 impact on the nation&#39;s economy, exchange rate stabilizes at N410/$.

Exchange rate availability allows for planning and investment decisions. CBN had consistently resisted the pressures to return to &quot;staggering and undulating foreign exchange rate in relation to the naira due to pressures by speculators, bettors, round-trippers and rent-seekers.&quot; The 11th CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele had long seen tomorrow well before COVID-19. In promoting import substitution through development financing, CBN rightly removed some 43 imported goods from the list of some items valid for Forex Exchange in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market.

I agree with the governor that &quot;it is our collective duty to ensure that the potential and prospects of the economy are optimally realised. The ongoing economic recovery requires the joint efforts and wise counsel of everyone, if we must take giant strides forward.&quot;

Therefore, beyond the creative monetary measures of the CBN, the fiscal authorities with respect to electricity supply, fighting smuggling and dumping (customs department), curbing insecurity, trade policies must compliment with new activist measures that would boost domestic manufacturing.

Many Happy returns to a co-sexagenarian!.

Culled from Vanguard News Nigeria


THE 11th second-term running Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, turns 60 today.

In praise of Godwin Emefiele at 60


![Alt text](/uploads/meffy/is-emefiele.jpg)

Age has not affected my love for biscuits. So, yesterday I went to buy Parle G and asked for two. I gave the seller N100 and turned to leave. &quot;Oga, na two hundred, e remain hundred naira.&quot; He said. I was shocked. When I asked why the biscuit was this expensive, he simply said, &quot;Na Emefiele cause am.&quot;

A friend of mine who is an economist in his final year at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University told me that the Naira is like a man with a weak erection, that it would be near impossible for him to impregnate his wife, and that is how a weak currency cannot impregnate the country to give birth to the stable cost and a green future for the nation. So, I have been wondering, how has Emefiele caused the impotence—near impotency, sounds better—of our currency? Worse than the inability of the currency to impregnate the country with hope, is that the city of the naira is like Troy and there are different soldiers in the Trojan Horse that are destroying the city.

What has Emefiele got to do with this? How does Emefiele contribute to the weak erection of the country&#39;s currency? With these questions, I decided to dig further, and thank God for the internet, I did not need to go to a pundit of economics to school me on the idea, and the more I learned, the simpler the Naira problem becomes. But, it is not simple, as much as the theory of it is because of some game players in masturbating the Naira for their personal pleasure. The complex simplicity of the Nigerian problem is the paradox that keeps ordinary Nigerians in the dark while grandiloquent(s) and pundits (forgive the repetition of this word) move about speaking oyibo.

In my finding, I discovered that Emefiele is being used as the proverbial scapegoat to hang the blame on and take away the eyes of Nigerians from the perpetrators of the problem with our currency, our economy, and our lives. So, if Emefiele is the scapegoat, who are the priests offering him to be eaten by Nigerians while they go about committing their sins?

**Understanding the Dynamics for Value of Naira**

I must explain this in simple and plain terms. Most of us still remember the laws of demand and supply that we learned in secondary school. Well, that is how it works with currency in the global market. To remind us, when there is a demand for a commodity, its price increases, and when there is no demand, the price decreases. From the creation of the Naira in 1973, the Naira was &quot;stronger&quot; than the US Dollar up until 1985 when the price of the Naira to the US Dollar went from its initial ₦0.658/$1 to ₦2.02/$1. So, how did we get to the point that a dollar is now equal to 415.58 Naira? It is because there is less and less demand for the Naira as time progresses. If the demand for the Dollar is high, the price of the Dollar will increase. If the demand for the Dollar is low, the price of the Dollar will reduce. If the supply of the Dollar is low, the price of the Dollar will increase, and if the supply of the Dollar is high, the price of the Dollar will reduce. This shows that there is no demand for Naira.

**Why Is There No Demand for Naira—and, Who Are Those Responsible?**

When we compare the glorious 70s and 80s with the contemporary times and the difference between the Naira to a Dollar, we must understand that there was a demand for our currency then. Presently, Nigeria demands approximately $54.71 billion per annum, while in the 80s, the demand was $16 billion 1980s because we did not need so many imported goods then. Now we import goods ranging from agricultural produce, cars, clothes, electronics, FMCG, and objects as common as a toothpick. We import varieties of everything we make locally and import the many other things we do not either know how to make locally or have the capacity to make.

For starters, you reading this piece, is the cloth you are wearing made in Nigeria? Most of the alcoholic drinks we take at nightclubs, since they are imported, we create demand for the dollar while our Naira is alone romancing itself. The &quot;dorime&quot; we do at nightclubs is a dirge for the naira. Nigeria imports (legally) alcohol, beverages and spirits worth $168.4 Million on average per year. We are besties with brands like Hennessy, Bacardi, Smirnoff, Absolut, Jack Daniels, Malibu, the list goes on and on. I have personally seen a shelf filled with Salvatore&#39;s Legacy at a bar once. One bottle of that drink costs a minimum of $8,316! And this is just one example of how expensive lifestyles create this garish gap in the exchange rate. Nigerians do not buy private planes in Naira. They do in Dollars. They buy yachts in Dollars, build megastructures by paying foreign companies in Dollars, and transact cryptocurrency in Dollars. If not for the ban placed on converting straight from crypto to Naira, we would have been in a much larger mess. So, how is Emefiele responsible for this?

At a point in our lives, we go to the farm and get different produce, go through to the market to sell the produce, and after getting our wants and needs, we save some Naira. When we had an issue, we danced through the same circle of getting items from our farms to bring us money. There was a means of getting goods, and even goods that are valued in dollars, but our farm products act as exchange term. That way, we were being fed with our food, and we were making more money that we could save. It is the grand sum that we saved that functions as our foreign reserve. But, peer through the train of time into today: we are no longer feeding from the farm, therefore, the sum that we have saved, is what is spent. Picture this into a frame of a singular family where the mother is the only one earning from selling tomatoes, and after she stops earning because she no gets tomato from her farm, they have to break their saving box to be able to feed. Also, this leaves her family at the cost-mercy of the people still in business.

Another factor that has denied our weak naira a time to even try and mate with the country&#39;s hope of growing its currency is crude oil theft. In Nigerian parlance, this is what we would refer to as &quot;double wahala for dead body&quot;. If you understand the dynamics of the Nigerian economic system, you would grasp why I call this double wahala. Unlike in the 70s and 80s when we were not only exporting crude, the Nigerian economy is largely dependent on crude in this era. This means that is the only source of exporting, yet over time there has been drastic crude theft. While the leaders will want to cover our eyes, there is a shady business being done here, and that is the NNPC&#39;s unwillingness to tell us what is really happening. It is reported that $ 3.27 billion dollars have been lost to &quot;thieves&quot; in 14 months. IPPG records that 82% of our production went missing in February, it must be noted that every other month, we lose about 80% of our production to vandalism. Haba! We have not seen anything that is vandalized, and that leaves us with one question, who is vandalizing our oil—our only source of income—and by implication vandalizing the Naira?

Again, I am pondering how Emefiele is responsible for the weak Naira because Nigerians are spending more dollars on acquiring education abroad and going for health care abroad, which is creating more demand for dollars while the Naira is undervalued. We are part of the soldiers in the trojan horse, and through our actions and inactions, we have contributed to the problem. For instance, the rush for education abroad has drastically grown from a near negligible figure in the 70s and 80s to over 71,000 in 2015 (according to UNESCO). By 2018, this number had risen to 96,702 students, according to the World Bank. For a student to travel and school abroad, their admission fees, accommodation fees, club levies, tuition, and living expenses must be paid in foreign currency. No country would accept to have foreign citizens pay for education in their country in a currency with lesser value than theirs. As we spend on education, we are also spending on medical trips abroad. It is recorded in our Balance of Payment (BoP) report that from 2010 to 2020, Nigerians spent a total of $39.66 billion on studies abroad and healthcare services abroad. While we spent $28.65 billion on studies, $11.01 billion went to medical services. The total money spent on just these two items alone is almost equivalent to the country&#39;s foreign reserve of $39.51 billion as of March. What does this tell us? How can our currency have any worth when even we almost do not have any use for it?

Do we have to blame Emefiele for the grave dug by different administrations and regimes of governments to let our country be in a space where we all do not need to run abroad to study or have hospitals where we can proudly go and be certain that it is not a death trap? While we blame the scapegoat that has been offered to us, we are not seeing the soldiers pushing the trojan horse into the city of Naira and Nigeria.

Another group responsible for the weakness of the Naira are the BDC operators. This cartel works in collaboration with their Western allies, who despite independence do not want to take the chains of slavery off our necks; they still want to keep exploiting us economically. Besides that they have failed in their legal roles to be acting as middlemen between the retail sales of dollars but are now selling even in wholesale, they engage in some dubious acts that are adversely affecting our currency. For instance, their foreign collaborators supply them with the excess dollar that they sell. And for the extra charges of N150 to N200 added on top of each of their Dollar, they enrich the owners of the foreign currency. And this will keep happening because they have cut some profit percentage gain agreement with their foreign sponsors, and because they seem more &quot;at reach&quot;, we flock to them, rather than the official commercial banks. To make matters worse, these BDC exchangers have fully minted Dollar notes in their millions in their possession. When you get to Zone 4 in Abuja, you can almost perceive dollars oozing out of the pores of every object. One particular BDC exchanger who operates in Area 1 [name withheld for obvious reasons], told me that he receives $1 Million in Dollar notes every week, and by the end of the week, he is left with barely $8,000 on average. Even throughout the several eras the CBN has officially banned BDC exchanges, they remain in business, and they do so because there is a chain of corruption that they follow, and we cannot even deny that some commercial banks trade with these people. Emefiele, of course, has been doing his bits by going as far as fining some banks that did not comply with the CBN regulations, but he is a single man, like Hector raising his sword against Achilles, Odysseus, and the entire Trojan soldiers.

**How Do We Burn the Trojan Horse: A Way to Raise the Naira?**

As Chinua Achebe said in one of his essays, &quot;we need to know where the rain began to beat us.&quot; And, it is that day that we wholly began to depend on foreign products for our use. Once upon a time, there was a Peugeot plant in Nigeria after the proposal Automobile Peugeot France scaled through on May 7, 1971. This meant that Nigerians did not need dollars to get a car. So, it is the failure of the system that has gotten Naira to the moribund state that it is today.

In light of this, the CBN is working towards revamping the export sector so that we can make Naira a currency in demand. This means that we do not have to sell our wool cheaply and buy clothes for which we will have to pay in dollar. In 2019 Nigeria banned 43 agricultural import items. Well, like me before I set out on the quest to know more about the state of things in Nigeria, you would ask, how does that take us out of this quagmire? Yes. The plan was to boost local production by giving Nigerians no other choice but to go back to the farms and mechanize their agriculture. If we grow the agricultural sector, we would not need dollars to pay for our food.

The resounding success of this is evidenced in our current statistics of rice production. Using Thailand (where we used to import 80% of our rice) as an example, in 2014, we imported 1,239,810 metric tonnes of rice from them, paying them in foreign currency, and hurting the strength of our Naira. That same year, our local production was 3,782,000. In 2021, we imported only 2,169 metric tonnes of rice from Thailand, and our local production was 5,000,000 metric tonnes. This is self-sufficiency in clear figures. Reason enough to celebrate. But did we celebrate? No. We lambasted and twisted narratives, and missed the picture. And this done through agents that benefit from the instability of the naira, so, overnight the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele became an enemy—the scapegoat on our altar. This is an effort to boost the Naira over the Dollar. And there have been so many similar efforts like this undertaken by the Emefiele we all love to slander and pin to the cross.

I wonder why Emefiele is the name lurking on our tongue whenever we think of the weak Naira. What about the Minister of Finance? Why are there advisers to the President on financial and economic matters? Over time, we have seen the CBN Governor talking for our Naira, but because of the policies of the CBN that have deprived some cartels of making profits from our national squalor, and how much they have dented his name, we close our eyes to his struggle. The IMF, which according to Niyi Osundare is the doctor that heals its patient by killing it, has been everywhere saying we should float the Naira, and of course, it is so that they can have free access to our market. So, I have been wondering, how is Emefiele responsible for the week naira; now that we know that our actions and inactions of patronizing foreign instead of homemade products, how do we intend to cover this gap; how do we intend to hold our government accountable so that we can have schools that are fit for every man&#39;s children and we would not have to spend so much to &quot;japa&quot; and what of the dollars going into the health system, and the rogue roles of eating our crude, and the last question that owns the question, is Emefiele responsible for the weak erection of our Naira? Certainly, NO.

Hassan Garba, a public affairs analyst, writes in from Abuja.

[#Emefiele](https://web.facebook.com/hashtag/emefiele? **eep** =6&amp; **cft** %5B0%5D=AZU-Oj6ZkX8XskJ-EY53ewZOPW3L_7QJef8b-r-lI1-8mkXTA47-a1GkA3SGRhLzqQ2si4twO5Z-SOW7ChRGUmII-mLgzcmgrOkAZm5vWtxGq0Z9ZtKGbgn7GeEraQUhGah1htqAb9mfMomR3IMc-r2c_Rkzl1bVCZtQ0svCvO48bg&amp; **tn** =*NK-R)[#NNPC](https://web.facebook.com/hashtag/nnpc? **eep** =6&amp; **cft** %5B0%5D=AZU-Oj6ZkX8XskJ-EY53ewZOPW3L_7QJef8b-r-lI1-8mkXTA47-a1GkA3SGRhLzqQ2si4twO5Z-SOW7ChRGUmII-mLgzcmgrOkAZm5vWtxGq0Z9ZtKGbgn7GeEraQUhGah1htqAb9mfMomR3IMc-r2c_Rkzl1bVCZtQ0svCvO48bg&amp; **tn** =*NK-R)[#Nigeria](https://web.facebook.com/hashtag/nigeria? **eep** =6&amp; **cft** %5B0%5D=AZU-Oj6ZkX8XskJ-EY53ewZOPW3L_7QJef8b-r-lI1-8mkXTA47-a1GkA3SGRhLzqQ2si4twO5Z-SOW7ChRGUmII-mLgzcmgrOkAZm5vWtxGq0Z9ZtKGbgn7GeEraQUhGah1htqAb9mfMomR3IMc-r2c_Rkzl1bVCZtQ0svCvO48bg&amp; **tn** =*NK-R)[#BDC](https://web.facebook.com/hashtag/bdc? **eep** =6&amp; **cft** %5B0%5D=AZU-Oj6ZkX8XskJ-EY53ewZOPW3L_7QJef8b-r-lI1-8mkXTA47-a1GkA3SGRhLzqQ2si4twO5Z-SOW7ChRGUmII-mLgzcmgrOkAZm5vWtxGq0Z9ZtKGbgn7GeEraQUhGah1htqAb9mfMomR3IMc-r2c_Rkzl1bVCZtQ0svCvO48bg&amp; **tn** =*NK-R)[#CBN](https://web.facebook.com/hashtag/cbn? **eep** =6&amp; **cft** %5B0%5D=AZU-Oj6ZkX8XskJ-EY53ewZOPW3L_7QJef8b-r-lI1-8mkXTA47-a1GkA3SGRhLzqQ2si4twO5Z-SOW7ChRGUmII-mLgzcmgrOkAZm5vWtxGq0Z9ZtKGbgn7GeEraQUhGah1htqAb9mfMomR3IMc-r2c_Rkzl1bVCZtQ0svCvO48bg&amp; **tn** =*NK-R)[#Naira](https://web.facebook.com/hashtag/naira? **eep** =6&amp; **cft** %5B0%5D=AZU-Oj6ZkX8XskJ-EY53ewZOPW3L_7QJef8b-r-lI1-8mkXTA47-a1GkA3SGRhLzqQ2si4twO5Z-SOW7ChRGUmII-mLgzcmgrOkAZm5vWtxGq0Z9ZtKGbgn7GeEraQUhGah1htqAb9mfMomR3IMc-r2c_Rkzl1bVCZtQ0svCvO48bg&amp; **tn** =*NK-R)[#Dollars](https://web.facebook.com/hashtag/dollars? **eep** =6&amp; **cft** %5B0%5D=AZU-Oj6ZkX8XskJ-EY53ewZOPW3L_7QJef8b-r-lI1-8mkXTA47-a1GkA3SGRhLzqQ2si4twO5Z-SOW7ChRGUmII-mLgzcmgrOkAZm5vWtxGq0Z9ZtKGbgn7GeEraQUhGah1htqAb9mfMomR3IMc-r2c_Rkzl1bVCZtQ0svCvO48bg&amp; **tn** =*NK-R)[#IPPG](https://web.facebook.com/hashtag/ippg? **eep** =6&amp; **cft** %5B0%5D=AZU-Oj6ZkX8XskJ-EY53ewZOPW3L_7QJef8b-r-lI1-8mkXTA47-a1GkA3SGRhLzqQ2si4twO5Z-SOW7ChRGUmII-mLgzcmgrOkAZm5vWtxGq0Z9ZtKGbgn7GeEraQUhGah1htqAb9mfMomR3IMc-r2c_Rkzl1bVCZtQ0svCvO48bg&amp; **tn** =*NK-R)


When I asked why the biscuit was this expensive, he simply said, &quot;Na Emefiele cause am.&quot;

Is Emefiele responsible for the weak naira?


![Alt text](/uploads/meffy/future.jpg)
**Hassan Garba**

Nigeria, like other countries across the world, has been led mostly by individuals in the public sphere of life. Other countries have had individuals with only private sector experience as has been evidenced by the administration of former President Donald J. Trump of the United States of America. Very few countries enjoy the privilege of having an individual with the dual capacity of private and public-sector experience. This is why some countries appear to perform better at the economy when they are led by an individual with relevant private sector credentials. Others appear to perform better if their leaders have been thoroughly steeped in the dicey art of public sector management.

**Former Prime Minister Sir John Major of the United Kingdom**

Only a few people may know this but the United Kingdom&#39;s former Prime Minister John Major, worked as a banker in Nigeria working at Standard Bank which is now known as First Bank Nigeria. Upon his accession to power, he brought a sense of urgency and pragmatism to the role of Prime Minister which enabled the country perform better economically. His effort at reviving the economy which had been battered by the fiscal and monetary woes of the 1970s and 1980s was commendable. Although he could have achieved more if he had had a more expanded role in the public service before he became prime minister.

**Former President Donald J. Trump of the United States of America**

While President Donald J. Trump is definitely controversial, we can see that his private sector background enabled him to focus on the economy which he built remarkably well during his tenure. There are however others who would insist that his foreign policy efforts were abysmal especially due to his proclivity to side with dictatorial leaders and his poor support of Arab and African nations.

**Former President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone**

Former President Kabbah spent all of his working life in the public sector, working mostly for the United Nations. He was head of the West Africa desk of that organization while in New York and also worked in Lesotho, Uganda and Tanzania. Seen as a unifying factor during and after the civil war in that country, former President Kabbah was able to bring his public-sector assets to bear in holding the discordant factions together even as he struggled on the economic front to prosper his people. One could argue that it would have been difficult for any other leader to quickly restart the economy after a tortuous internal carnage that destabilized the length and breadth of a once peaceful country.

**What Nigeria Needs is a Hybrid Private and Public-Sector Leader**

It is time to take a more nuanced look at the type of individual to lead Nigeria. We have experienced the benefits of core public sector leaders with mixed results and we have had the benefit of private sector players in high governance. People like Chief Awolowo and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo who have recorded sterling results in office. The time has come to try a hybrid leader who can run the country like a President Trump but also win the affection of other world leaders and promote Nigeria&#39;s foreign affairs.

**Champion of Agriculture**

Let&#39;s take a look at a suitable profile: If there was somebody who could support all small and medium-scale farmers and curb unemployment and help reduce the poverty rate in the country who could it be? That person would be no other than Dr. Godwin Emefiele who has ploughed a substantial N134.63 billion to mostly agro-related projects through the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) and the Agri-Business/Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS). This novel feat earned him the name the **Champion of Agriculture.** To be clear, Dr Emefiele is probably not the only individual with this pedigree but he definitely stands out as one.

**Champion of Entrepreneurs**

His ambitious plan to restart the economy at each occasion when it has experienced severe challenges has led to his laudable attempt to ban the undiscriminating importation of foreign goods that can be produced cheaply at home and his endearing efforts to stimulate local enterprise through trainings, cash grants and the enabling environment has earned him the sobriquet of **Champion of Entrepreneurs.**

**Champion of Industry**

Dr Emefiele has been emphatic that while the small businesses are crucial to stimulate growth, the real sector and the industries around it must have a chance to continue to do well. He has commendably committed 1 trillion Naira through the Real Sector Facility programme which has targeted over 250 projects in light manufacturing, agro-allied services and mining. Those in this area hail him as the Champion of industry and who can begrudge him that appellation?

**The man could be Dr. Godwin Emefiele**

This is the time to marry private sector deftness with public sector sagacity. We need a prudent manager of resources who has the heart of a public-sector organizer. We need a hero who can be heroic and be the champion of different sectors but also represent the national interest in one fell swoop. In short, we need Dr. Godwin Emefiele.

This series will continue to examine a host of possible candidates who fit this profile. That is, those who possess the ability to conjoin private sector experience with the navigational excellence of a public-sector pilot.

**Hassan Garba wrote in from Abuja.**


Only a few people may know this but the United Kingdom's former Prime Minister John Major, worked as a banker in Nigeria working at Standard Bank which is now known as First Bank Nigeria.

Nigeria’s Incoming President-From the Private Sector, the Public Sector or Both


![Alt text](/uploads/meffy/know.jpg)

Always decked in his simply-tailored suit with its signature "green" tie, the picture of the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Chief Godwin Emefiele, has in the last six years, become a symbol of national prosperity across the six geopolitical zones of the country.

Emefiele's simplicity and modesty is not the only thing that distinguished him from his flamboyant and not –so flamboyant predecessors. Not at all. Unlike his predecessors who were always seen attending board rooms conferences and meetings, Emefiele has carved out a niche for himself by not limiting himself to the board rooms, but by reaching out to the people at the grassroots, particularly the peasant farmers.

As the chief economist of the most populous black nation and richest African country, Emefiele refused to be carried away by that tantalizing position. Instead, he elected to be a household name, not only in his traditional constituency of finance, banking and development, but among ordinary Nigerians through his pro-masses policies.

Despite being not a politician, the CBN governor's "suit and green tie" signature dress has been eliciting pleasure and happiness in the minds of millions of Nigerians across the length and breadth of the country.

The CBN helmsman has achieved this unparalleled and unprecedented feat through a single policy: The Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP). Through his programme, Emefiele became a household name to millions of Nigerians who were hitherto forgotten and abandoned. He is now a friend of the silent majority of Nigerians who he rescued from the lethal fangs of abject poverty and squalor. Through ABP, he made them reaffirm their belief in Nigeria. He returned their self-esteem and self-worth by making them critical stakeholders in the socio-economic ecosystem in the country.

From Zauro in Kebbi state, where the CBN governor flagged-off the 2020 wet season harvest aggregation and 2020 dry season input distribution under the CBN-Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Emefiele travelled to dozens states including Taraba, Bayelsa, Kano, Zamfara, Plateau, Cross River, Sokoto, Nasarawa, Lagos, Katsina, Niger, Ogun, Kogi, to unveil dozens rice pyramids. Through CBN's ABP, Nigeria recently proclaimed its food self-sufficiency laurels by unveiling the world's largest rice pyramids, comprising one million 100kg bags of rice in Abuja.

From a modest pilot of 75,000 farmers in 26 states, the RIFAN-CBN ABP has now been fully established in all states of the federation and the FCT. Through Emefiele's uncommon resilience, the number of rice farmers has snowballed from 1.5 million six years ago, to over 20 million now – all thanks to Emefiele's ABP.

According to official data, the CBN had disbursed 927.94 billion ($2.23 billion) in less than seven years to over 4.5 million smallholder farmers cultivating 21 commodities across the country under the ABP. This is against the $2.9 billion the CBN spent every year as import bill of rice alone before ABP.

These agricultural commodities include maize, sorghum, millet, cassava, cocoa, rice, cotton, ground nuts, palm oil, sugarcane, tree crops, legumes, tomato, to mention a few.

Before President Muhammadu Buhari's election in 2015, it was an open secret that Nigeria's local rice (the country's staple food) production was 1.5 mts /hectare. Courtesy of CBN now, the local rice production has soared to 5 mts/hectare.

The advantage of these burgeoning figures of rice production can be seen from the number of large-scale integrated rice mills which had increased from less than 10 in 2015 to nearly 100, 400 medium sized mills and over 200,000 small scale mills across the country, providing millions of direct and indirect jobs.

On Tuesday, February 2, 2022, Chief Emefiele inaugurated a N15 billion ultra-modern 420 metric tons per day capacity integrated rice milling factory in Kano state. This is an unprecedented feat.

The mass empowerment of farmers at the grassroots has reversed the ugly trend of rural- urban migration. ABP has succeeded in kick- starting urban- rural migration at no cost to the government.

The multiplying effect of the programme is unimaginable. As a result of the agricultural revolution championed by ABP, the farm inputs sub-sector in Nigeria has witnessed an unprecedented growth. For instance, in fertilizer manufacturing alone, Nigeria has since achieved self-sufficiency.

From a mere three comatose blending plants in 2016, Nigeria now boasts of over 50 state- of- the- art fertilizer blending plants across the country. Fertilizer importation is now ancient history.

The herbicides sub-sector is also witnessing tremendous growth, with mega indigenous herbicide manufacturing companies springing up across the country.

Emefiele's midas touch is not restricted to the over 20 million farmers salvaged from poverty. The financial ecosystem is witnessing a boast never imagined before. The e-Naira, the national digital currency midwifed by Emefiele's CBN, is another addition into the kitty of the apex bank in providing succour to Nigerians irrespective of their social status.

The e-Naira is a block chain technology that will add a whopping sum of $2.9 trillion (N1.189 trillion) every year to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). What this simply means is that: Nigeria's GDP will be raised by $29 billion in the next 10 years.

Another initiative by the CBN governor is the development of Tertiary Institutions Entrepreneurship Scheme (TIES), in partnership with Nigerian polytechnics and universities to harness the potential of graduate entrepreneurs (gradpreneurs) in the country.

The goal of the TIES is to enhance access to finance to undergraduates and graduates of polytechnics and universities in Nigeria with innovative entrepreneurial and technological ideas.

Under this policy, the CBN will offer N500 million grant to graduates, undergraduates with the best entrepreneurship pitch across the tertiary institutions.

It is apparent that Emefiele's magic affects almost every Nigerian. Data shows that the cumulative disbursements under the Real Sector Facility currently stood at 1.40 trillion, disbursed to 331 projects across the country.

The health sector is not left behind, under the Healthcare Sector Intervention Facility (HSIF), CBN had disbursed a total of N108.85 billion for 118 projects, comprising 31 pharmaceuticals, 82 hospitals and four other services.

Just like the CBN's ABP saved Nigeria from hunger during the COVID pandemic that triggered global lockdown, the CBN didn't stop at that. It initiated Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) to support households and businesses affected by COVID-19. Though this platform, the CBN has so far disbursed N369.78 billion to 777,666 beneficiaries, comprising 648,052 households and 129,614 small businesses.

As part of CBN's effort to support the electricity sector under the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Payment Assurance Facility (NBET-PAF), the apex bank had released N274.33 billion to power sector players. This is apart from the N20.58 billion released to Distribution Companies (DisCos) under the Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility – Phase 2 (NEMSF-2).

The apex bank, through the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP), disbursed the sum of 47.83 billion for procurement and installation of 858,026 electricity meters across the country under the Scheme's Phase-0.

The gas sub-sector was not neglected as the CBN, through its Intervention Facility for National Gas Expansion Programme (IFNGEP), released 42.20 billion for six projects.

On the forex regime, Emefiele defied the odds in July 2021, by banning the Bureau De Change (BDC) operators from accessing forex, and also said some them have become conduit for illegal financial flows working with corrupt people to conduct.

To curb insecurity using the financial system, Emefiele deployed the bigger stick, where in March 2021, it froze 193 corporate and individual bank accounts over allegations of suspicious forex transactions. This was done after 138 accounts were frozen earlier in February.

In April 2021, Emefiele's CBN damned the political consequence by conducting a surgical investigation that engineered the arrest and arraignment of over 400 persons across the country in an ongoing nationwide crackdown on financiers of terror-related groups in Nigeria.

It is therefore, not a coincidence that the majority of Nigerians continue to affirm the patriotism and sheer commitment of Chief Emefiele. His stint at the CBN has put smiles on the faces of millions of Nigerians more than before.

It is based on these aforementioned accomplishments that when Chief Emefiele was sighted recently dressed in a traditional northern attire of kaftan brocade with a Zanna Bukar cap to match, there was agitation from all over the country, suggesting a new assignment for the CBN governor.

Emefiele's uniting of Nigerians irrespective of their faith, language and region through impactful and economically-viable interventions at the CBN can be replicated when in all sectors of the country. This is what millions of Nigerians are longing for whenever they see Chief Emefiele as the country journeys to 2023.

– _Dr Ibrahim Umar PhD a Public Policy Analyst writes from Gombe_


Emefiele's simplicity and modesty is not the only thing that distinguished him from his flamboyant and not –so flamboyant predecessors.

The Godwin Emefiele I Know

Those afraid of Emefiele are like those afraid of the rain. When Emefiele rains, it pours.

#TheEmefieleJournal.