Suspended Governor of the Central Bank Godwin Emefiele made a few connected people wealthy while Nigerians became poorer, President Bola Tinubu said in Paris Friday.
The president who was holding his first meeting with Nigerians in the diaspora described as rotten the controversial and unorthodox financial system that Emefiele enthroned as CBN governor.
According to Tinubu, “the financial system was rotten. Few people were making away with our money…that is gone now; the man (Emefiele) is in the hands of the authorities.”
Emefiele was hauled into detention by agents of the secret police two weeks ago after he had been suspended by the President who in his inaugural address had promised a thorough cleansing of the apex financial institution where cronyism and a rigged foreign exchange system opened a messy route to arbitrage by a few well-connected Nigerians and their foreign collaborators.
Tinubu’s comments come exactly 14 days after the suspended the former CBN chief was seen in a widely circulated video taken at the Lagos airport alighting from a security truck and being led into a waiting plane by detectives, one of them openly displaying the handcuff he was carrying.
A statement by the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation said the suspension and detention was meant to pave the way for comprehensive investigation and the start of the financial system reforms promised by Tinubu.
Speaking further in France on Friday, Tinubu said his administration would implement further financial reforms in the coming weeks. He cited the difficulty in the flow of forex in and out of the country, which he said enriched a few people while impoverishing the vast majority of Nigerians.
.The President who described Nigeria’s challenges as “enormous,” said he was prepared for the job ahead of him.
In seeking to draw a link between illegally gotten wealth and insecurity, the president “we have security challenges in the country. Maybe that is how they are fuelling insecurity; we have to look at everything. We will change the financial system; it will work for you.”
The President said he and his Special Adviser on Monetary Policy, Mr Wale Edun, turned the fortunes of Lagos State around between 1999 and 2003 moving the internally generated revenue from N600m annually to N50bn monthly.
“So, your President is here. I danced for it and I have to continue to be prepared for it. The challenges are enormous. But do we have hope? Yes. With perseverance, determination and persistence, we can achieve whatever we desire.”
He said that he, like some in the audience, had experienced the rough side of diaspora life, saying, “I know the road and I’ve been through what many of you have been through outside the country. I’ve been in America and in the UK; I had been a night guard, security man and a door man in America. But I have achieved my aim.”
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The President’s Special Adviser on Special Duties, Communication and Strategy, Dele Alake, in a statement, described Nigeria’s relations with Benin, a neighbouring country as that of Siamese twins after Tinubu had met his counterpart from Benin Republic Patrice and pledging that his administration would always be open and accessible to all neighbouring countries.9
Responding, Talon said he was inspired with renewed hope for the sub-region and Africa at the inauguration of President Tinubu in Abuja, pledging to provide support on trade and security policy, especially at the borders.
