FG using CBN Naira policy to go after criminals – Ezekwesili

Oby Ezekwesili, a former vice president of the World Bank, has voiced concerns about the Central Bank of Nigeria’s naira redesign policy.

Mrs. Ezekwesili questioned whether the bank still employs economists during a Sunday interview.

She claimed that the goal of the policy was to address the issue of criminality in politics.

She did, however, point out that the government could easily pursue criminals without relying on the CBN’s monetary policy.

The government is aware of these criminals, so Ms. Ezekwesili, a former minister of education, claimed there was no need to implement the policy.
“But there’s a second thing that we seem to be solving for which has now taken ascendancy over the monetary policy. We are using the central bank to solve the problem of criminality in our politics.

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“That’s the objective, but is it an objective that the central bank should be smacked into? There’s something wrong with that because what has happened is – you have criminals – the government knows the criminals, they are part of them.
“If it wanted to, in a transparent manner, get them, it would get them. But what it has done is that It has basically discomfited the citizens, the poor women in the market, the people just barely eking out a living, and now struggling because of the criminality our politics.”
She pointed out that because the system wasn’t upgraded, the financial infrastructure was unable to handle the increase in transactions.

The former minister added, “Frankly speaking, I don’t even know whether there are economists left in the Central Bank of Nigeria,” to his description of the policy’s implementation as “appalling.”

“You have created this chaos by mixing everything up,” Mrs. Ezekwesili remarked. It is obvious that politicians have once again prioritized their own interests over those of the public.

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According to reports, banks have been targeted by irate mobs in some regions of the country due to the shortage of Naira notes.