By Bimbola Oyesola , [email protected]
The Central Bank of Nigeria’s policy has been blamed for the current cash crisis be-devilling the country and causing undue hardship for Nigerians.
Director-general, Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), Ilorin, Kwara State, Issa Aremu said recently that the CBN undermined its independence with its naira swap policy.
Aremu, former vice-president, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), speaking at a workshop organised by the Labour Writers Association of Nigeria (LAWAN), in collaboration with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), in Lagos recently, said the policy of the apex bank was affecting the economy.
Speaking on the theme: “Beyond Voting: Roles of Citizens in Ensuring a Free, Fair and Transparent 2023 Election,” Aremu attributed the problem to poor consultation by the apex bank’s management.
“The people you are swapping the naira for cannot access the currency,” Aremu said, noting that the CBN has undermined its independence with what it cannot sustain.
He reasoned that if the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, worked in a bank and caused the kind of crisis presently going on in the country, he would have been fired.
According to Aremu, the policy is not President Muhammadu Buhari’s policy but emanated from CBN. He therefore, advised that the next CBN governor must not be a banker, but an independent person that would perform better in office.
The president, Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), Olusoji Oluwole, said the confusion caused by the CBN was that it was yet to give the banks any directive.
“Our industry has been demonised as a result of cash crunch and fuel scarcity. We are resolute that the crisis of naira scarcity should come to an end,” he said.
Oluwole, however said the responsibility of the general election rests on the electorate, saying that the job of the government and other agencies is only to provide the structure.
The NLC, he said, supported the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) because it would prevent ballot box snatching and make votes count.
Lagos State NLC chairperson, Funmi Sessi, who represented the NLC president, Joe Ajaero, said the BVAS would engender free and fair elections.
He, however, lamented the disadvantages of technology and the havoc it has caused in society.
“People have used technology to disseminate wrong information and mislead the public. These can affect free and fair elections,” he said.
Ajaero also reiterated that the NLC decided to allow sleeping dogs to lie on the issues of cash crunch and fuel scarcity in order not to set the nation on fire.