Nigeria In Terrible State Under Buhari Govt – CBN Gov., Emefiele

• CBN gave support loans to states when the country was hit with a recession in 2016 – Emefiele

Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, says the country is in an unfortunate situation under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Emefiele said high unemployment rate, double digits inflation and rising debt profile have left the country’s economy in shambles and dire straits under the current government.

Emefiele said the fiscal challenges and economic woes have left the country in a precarious situation with its economy hanging by a thread.

“Nigeria is unfortunately in a bad situation in the sense that we are facing a problem about productivity output which is GDP. We are also confronted with the problem of inflation,” Emefiele told reporters on Thursday.

The CBN boss also reacted to Governor Godwin Obaseki’s claim that the federal government printed N60 billion to augment allocation for states in March.

Emefiele averred that what Obaseki referred to as arbitrary printing of money by the apex bank was actually a loan which was meant to address the cash crunch that ravages the economy.

He averred that Obaseki spoke out of ignorance because he did not understand how printing of money works and the concept behind it, noting that Obaseki assertion was inappropriate.

“If you understand the concept of printing money, printing money is about lending money; that is our job. There is no need putting up the controversy of printing money as if we are going into the factory printing money and then distributing it on the street.

“It is very inappropriate for people to just give some colouration to the word printing of money as if it is some foreign word coming from the sky,” Mr Emefiele argued.

Obaseki had said last week that in another year “or so,” the federal government might run out of cash.

He also said Nigeria practises a strange system of government and economy where the three tiers of government converge every month to earn salary, adding that this has rendered the component units unproductive.

“Where will we find this money that we go to Abuja to share every month? Last month, we got FAAC for March. The federal government printed an additional ₦50 to ₦60 billion to top-up for us to share,” the governor claimed.

Further dismissing Obaseki’s claim, Emefiele disclosed that CBN gave support loans to states when the country was hit with a recession in 2016, pointing out that the states have yet to refund the loans.

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