A former Vice President of the World Bank, Oby Ezekwesili, has expressed concerns about the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
During an interview on Channels television on Sunday, Mrs Ezekwesili wondered whether there are still economists in the bank.
The policy, she said, was designed to unravel the problem of crime in politics.
She, howbeit, noted that government could effortlessly go after the culprits without using financial policy of the CBN.
Mrs Ezekwesili, who’s a former minister of education, said these culprits are known to the government and that there was no need to deploy the policy.
But there’s a alternate thing that we feel to be solving for which has now taken ascendancy over the financial policy. We’re using the central bank to unravel the problem of crime in our politics.
That’s the objective, but is it an aim that the central bank should be smacked into? There’s something wrong with that because what has occurred is–you have culprits–the government knows the culprits, they’re part of them.
However, in a transparent manner, get them, If it wanted to. But what it has done is that It has primarily discomfited the citizens, the poor women in the market, the people just barely wring out a living, and now struggling because of the crime our politics.
She noted that the financial infrastructure has been unable to manage with the surge in transactions because the system wasn’t upgraded.
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The former minister also described the implementation of the policy as “atrocious ” adding that “honestly speaking, I do n’t even know whether there are economists left in the Central Bank of Nigeria. ”
Mrs Ezekwesili said “By mixing all of it up, you have created this chaos. What’s clear is that the politicians have again put their interests above that of the citizens.
AFLM Correspondent reported how angry mobs have been attacking banks in some parts of the country over the insufficiency of the Naira notes.
Speaking on the presidential aspirants in the 2023 election, the former minister said she can not vote for either Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) or Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Mrs Ezekwezili, who’s backing the aspirant of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, said the other front liners lack what she described as the three “C”, which are competence, character and capacity.
There’s no way I can cast a vote for an Atiku or a Bola Tinubu. They don’t check the box. ”
