The former Minister of Niger Delta noted that the actions and policies taken under Emefiele’s watch as the governor of the apex bank were responsible for hunger in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s Senate President, Godswill Akpabio has stated that President Bola Tinubu’s administration does not know what crime to charge a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele with.
The former Minister of Niger Delta noted that the actions and policies taken under Emefiele’s watch as the governor of the apex bank were responsible for hunger in Nigeria.
According to him, their administration met a collapsed economy when it came in.
Akpabio said this while speaking in a video of a church programme posted by Channels Television on its X handle on Sunday. The former Akwa Ibom governor called on Nigerians to exercise some patience in the face of the crippling economic hardship in the country.
We Don’t Know What Crime To Charge Emefiele With - Akpabio #ChannelsTVNews pic.twitter.com/pkqZLXUxyN
— Channels Television (@channelstv) February 18, 2024
He said, “The kind of debts and the kind of economic mess that we are in, a lot of people did not understand. I remember President Obama saying you cannot know Washington until you get to Washington, so by the time we went in to look at the economic situation of the country, it was terrible.
“So you know the former governor of Central Bank, we don’t even know what to charge him with.
“But I know that the hunger in the land is because of the kind of policies and actions that they took.
“We recognise that there is hunger in the land and we are battling to make sure that Nigerians can sleep with their eyes closed. We are battling to ensure that Nigerians can afford three square meals in a day.”
"But be rest assured that we will get to the bottom of this. We campaigned and danced round the country for this job, we will not let you down. All we need is patience; we cannot solve the problem of 60 years in six months," he added.
The Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere had attributed the current economic woes of Nigeria to the bad economic policies that started with the former President Muhammadu Buhari's administration.
Afenifere in a statement on Friday said that Buhari's regime didn't make provisions for subsidies in the last budget which led to the hasty removal of fuel subsidy by the incumbent president on inauguration.
In the statement jointly signed by the publicity and organising secretaries, Jare Ajayi and Kole Omololu respectively, Afenifere berated the last administration for creating economic holes for the present administration in the country.
The group, however, urged state governors who are receiving almost double allocations due to the removal of subsidies and readjustment of exchange rates to deliver and ensure the security of their people, and not blame the government at the centre.