Kinsmen of the embattled former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, under the aegis of Agbor Stakeholders Forum (ASF), yesterday, described him as a hero and not a villain as being painted for being creative amid economic challenges.
 
The forum posited that Emefiele is an economist and a thoroughbred banker, who helped to found and build one of the biggest banks, noting that in the fullness of time, history will preserve his records as one of the most competent and impactful governors to ever manage the CBN.
  
In a statement signed on their behalf by Kanene Kachikwu, the forum noted that less than one year after he was forcefully and illegally removed from office, in just nine months of this administration, the economy has unhinged, and all indices are on a free fall.
 
According to them, a cursory review of the yearly reports of the CBN from 2014 to 2023 showed, in bold relief, the enormous economic interventions enacted by Emefiele and his team over this period. 
   
They said: “We are proud to state that no other head of the apex bank has put up this quantum of transformational work. As CBN governor, his first task was to curb frivolous importation of commodities Nigeria can produce locally. He restricted foreign exchange on those items (44 of them).
   
“With the support of President Muhammadu Buhari, Emefiele never allowed the naira to float and fail helplessly against the currencies of developed economies of the world, as President Bola Tinubu and the current CBN governor are doing today, knowing that the naira can never survive in such free market competition. 
 
“Emefiele allowed measured devaluation, while he ensured that the bank directly catalysed production in agriculture, manufacturing, medium and small-scale industries, and even the entertainment industry, among others.

HOWEVER, the Governor of CBN, Olayemi Cardoso, has distanced himself from the economic woes Nigerians are currently experiencing.
He disclosed this after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja, yesterday. 

Cardoso assured that the apex bank was taking necessary steps to get the country’s fiscal and monetary health back to normal. Asked if the policies introduced by the CBN under his watch are responsible for the economic challenges in the country, Cardoso said: “I laugh at that question, but it’s not a laughing matter, and I think it is very important for Nigerians to understand that I and my team are not responsible for the woes that we have today; we are part of the solution.Cardoso said: “We are determined to ensure that we work hard to get out of the mess that Nigeria is in.

“We assumed responsibility in a time of crisis of confidence. There was a crisis of confidence, and you may all want to go to bed and wish that crisis was not there. But it was, and we can’t turn back the clock.

“All we can do is do the difficult things to make a bad situation better, and I do believe that the efforts that we are making are beginning to bring back confidence, because to be frank, without confidence in your business, you are not going to get far.”