Tinubu hasn’t asked Cardoso to resign, says presidency

President Bola Tinubu did not ask Olayemi Cardoso, Nigeria’s Central Bank governor to resign, the presidency has said.

The clarification comes from Bayo Onanuga, the president’s spokesman Tuesday night debunking a report that Cardoso was asked to resign by Tinubu before the president left for China in August.

The report claimed that Tinubu asked the CBN governor to resign because he couldn’t turn the naira’s fortune around and bring the currency to between ₦700 and ₦900 per dollar.

“Cardoso, who reportedly secured the nomination for the plum job through the Yoruba Elders, allegedly lacks the knack to turn around the troubled institution and the poor economy he inherited,” the report said.

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“Cardoso’s undoing, according to insiders, is his inability to live up to the promise he made to President Tinubu in January to salvage the naira and return it to between N700 and N900 to $1 before May 29, 2024, and also, save the economy.”

But Onanuga dismissed the story as false.

“It’s all lies. President Tinubu has not asked Yemi Cardoso to resign,” the president’s special adviser wrote in a pinned post on X.

Cardoso assumed office September 22, last year.

In one year, the naira has depreciated by 124.39% in the official window and 66.83% in the parallel market. This decline has seen the naira plummet from N738/$ to N1,656 per dollar in the official market, and from N995/$ to N1,660/$ in the parallel market, as of Tuesday.

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This trend is a continuation of the naira’s struggles, which have been exacerbated by the country’s reliance on oil money and lack of diversification in the economy. Experts argue that manufacturing and export of manufactured goods, coupled with improved tax-to-GDP ratios, are essential for stabilizing the naira.

Many have pointed to the need for increased investment in manufacturing and security sectors, as well as addressing the fundamental issue of USD liquidity in Nigeria as the lasting solution to the currency’s decline.

As the naira weakens, Nigerians are feeling the pinch, with rising costs of living and eroded savings. The government faces mounting pressure to address the economic challenges and find a solution to the naira’s free fall.