Godwin Emefiele: Emotions, partisanship in monetary and fiscal policy

Published:

By Yusuf Babangida Suleiman

One can hardly fathom how a serving Governor of a country’s Central bank can even subtly portray partisanship, talk more of showing signs of intent to run for office. From the day Mr Godwin Emefiele began to be touted as a potential aspirant, he should have vacated one of the the most sensitive offices in the country. He is human, and since his failure to procure the APC Candidature, he has acted in more ways than one towards sinking the ship, out of bitterness of someone else’s successful earning of the will of the majority. This is unsurprising because to him and his co-saboteurs, potential public disenchantment with the APC may cause a loss, translating into victory for the party that brought him to limelight, the PDP. Mr Emefiele is apparently unfit to continue in office with the loads of emotional baggage he is harbouring against people whom he feels are in possession of what should be his.

For us politicians, it is deeply heart wrenching, helplessly watching insensitive antics of appointed officials of government, hiding behind the veil of institutional independence, bureaucracy and supposed progression to push through irrational agendas. When one sets out to implement a public agenda, there must be due regard to appropriateness of timing, reasonability of duration and scope of coverage. In such classes of stakeholder engagement and management, humanity and empathy, as well as need and national interest, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele must have been truant, as he has demonstrated an inexplicable lag in these areas.

In public parlance, we are dumbfounded by the seeming stubborn stance of Mr Emefiele on a matter that has the tendency to water down enormous achievements of the President Buhari administration, and potentially cause intense incitement of the public against an administration that has indelibly placed its signatures on symbolic and historic projects. It is unnecessarily intensely pursued that Nigerians are required to swap or deposit Naira as the case may be, and shift unto online platforms for transactions, even in the midst of growing intrusions causing heavy losses through cybercrime, and in so short a period of time. 

The Presidential Candidate of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has rightly faulted the timing and intensity of pursuit of the Naira Redesign program, particularly given the hardship into which it has already thrown numerous Nigerians. It is salient that Asiwaju has shown his hand, and has shown on whose side he has always stood and shall continue to stand. This firm stand has been re-echoed to the widest reach by His Excellency Governor Ganduje of Kano State, as he assembled top scholars to join voices and in unison call for extension of the Naira redesign deadline, while also praying for peace and appealing for calm, against the temptation to do things leading to breakdown of Law and Order.

In conclusion, people pursuing legitimate livelihoods are in difficulty in a country that is supposedly driving means to enable business and under pressure to create employment. The law abiding youth have been placed in severe difficulty and uncertainty in a country battling decade long insurgencies led by derailed young people. There are multitudes of enterprising women finding it difficult to wrap their heads around a strange policy in a country making concerted efforts to make women exit docility and take leading positions in productivity. 

We must rid the most sensitive financial office in this country of its occupant, beyond the threats of arrest by the House of Representatives, resolutions of the Senate and other soft clamours, there must be unified voices across the country, and bold steps to ensure that partisanship is eliminated from our monetary and fiscal decisions. Soonest, we anticipate a harmonised vote of no confidence on Mr Emefiele by both chambers of the NASS as well as all States Houses of Assembly, to cause a triumph of people’s will over one man’s emotions. 

Hon. Suleiman is a member, Kano State House of Assembly (2011-Date) Gwale Constituency 

Related articles

Recent articles

spot_img