Ordinarily, he, Dr. Godwin Emefiele, would have been the Greatest Of All Times (GOATs) in the history of Nigeria’s Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and its past governors since the inception of the bank in 1959, but may not be if falls to emerging speculations that he is preparing to go on exile effective May 29 when his pay-master leaves office.
Business Hilights recalls that a draft legislation for the establishment of CBN was presented to the House of Representatives in March, 1958. The Act was fully implemented on 1 July, 1959 when the Central Bank of Nigeria came into full operations.
However, since the announcement of the 2023 presidential election results, one man that may not be very comfortable in his official position remains the current Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele.
Besides, his case was further made worst with the way and anger the Supreme Court presented its judgment on the Naira Swap case brought forward by some aggrieved governors on Friday, March 3, 2023.
…Already there are strong speculations that he has moved family to another country ahead of resignation on or before May 29, 2023.
Otherwise, the above postulations are based on the fact that almost all the presidential candidates including the eventual winner, were largely upset by his sudden naira notes swap at the very eve of the 2023 elections and its currently endless hardship on the electioneering process and on ordinary Nigerians.
Fact check showed that he was nominated and appointed by former president Goodluck Jonathan on March 6, 2014 and at the end of his first tenure of five years, reappointed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Records show that Emefiele remains the only CBN Governor ever to be reappointed for a second tenure five years in office.
However, there are strong speculations that his reappointment was largely powered by his large heart in giving out almost unsecuritised CBN loans to Northern Rice farmers under a programme called Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP).
ABP was introduced by the apex bank in 2015 to provide loans (in kind and cash) to smallholder farmers to boost agricultural production, create jobs, reduce food import bill and majorly grow local rice production.
However, the CBN under Emefiele’s watch has been weak in recovering the over N2tn ABP’s loan.
In a report by The Punch on December 8, 2022, last year captioned: ‘Fake Farmers benefiting From CBN’s ABP Loan Scheme’, the paper averred that All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), on Wednesday, said most beneficiaries of the billions of naira released by the Central Bank of Nigeria under its Anchor Borrowers’ Programme were not Nigerian farmers.
Although the CBN kicked against this claim, AFAN argued that the apex bank was finding it tough to recover the loans because the funds were disbursed to individuals who were not into farming and not captured in the database of the association.
The National Secretary, AFAN, Yunusa Yabwa, disclosed this to journalists in Abuja while speaking on the sidelines of an event to announce the forthcoming Feed Nigeria Summit 2022.
“The Anchor Borrowers Programme was a laudable programme by this administration, but in every programme of this nature there must be challenges,” he said.
Yabwa added, “Our members have benefitted from the programme, but most people who benefited from the ABP are not Nigerian farmers. I must confess that to you.
“That is why you see today that the CBN, NIRSAL, commercial banks, who were the channels for the distribution of this fund, are complaining that these beneficiaries are not repaying the loans.”
He said most persons who got the loans could not be accounted for by AFAN, stressing that the association had asked CBN to provide the names of the debtors but the apex bank had not been able to comply.
Aside, the inabilities to recover the said ABP’s loans, Nigerians are not seeing the gains of the loans as local rice are no more in the market for people to buy and eat.
Analysts also allege that Emefiele’s cold feet in recovering the loans from fake northern farmers may have been the reason why unknown rice farmers allegedly purchased the APC’s N100m presidential nomination form for him even though Emefiele’s plot to run for presidency failed to materialize after all.
Then come the Hon Kazaure’s Stamp Duty of N89tn Report by the Presidential Committee on Reconciliation and Recovery of Stamp Duty and the endless haunt by the DSS over economic sabotage and terror financing.
Another issue forcing Emefiele not to complete his rare second tenure is the currency swap policy at the eve of election which has caused untold hardship up till now across the country.
Industry observers say no presidential candidate will be able to remain Emefiele in office after inauguration come May 29; not even the APC candidate and eventual winner, who may have suffered the heat of the currency swap more.
So, no doubt, Emefiele must be having sleepless nights over how to remain free and protected from May 29, when the Pharaoh that ‘knows’ him has left Aso Rock Villa.
