Emefiele violated naira redesign procedure, ex-CBN chief testifies

Former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Edward Adamu, yesterday, told the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja that a former Governor of the bank, Godwin Emefiele, did not follow the procedure in the process that led to the redesign of some notes of the Nigerian currency.

Led in examination by Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Adamu, who is Principal Witness 4 (PW4), also said the redesign of the naira notes launched by President Buhari and currently in circulation was not the one approved by the President or the Board of the CBN.

Adamu was testifying in the suit on a four-count charge instituted by the EFCC against Emefiele, wherein he was accused of redesigning the N200, N500 and N1,000 notes of the Nigerian currency without the approval of the President and the CBN board.

The ex-CBN deputy governor told the court, presided over by Justice Maryanne Anenih, that during his time as an employee of the CBN, he had witnessed previous redesign of the nation’s currency aimed at addressing issues of the volume of currency in circulation, inflation, counterfeiting and general currency management, among others.

According to Adamu before the exercise carried out by Emefiele, the process of naira redesigning, known to him, originates from the Director of Currency Operations to the Committee of Governors (COG), who passes it to the Board for approval before it gets to the President, but Emefiele circumvented the process.

PW4 said Emefiele simply called a meeting of the COG, where he showed presidential approval for redesign and subsequently proceeded to implementation. He also claimed that a look at Exhibit E2 indicated that the design of currencies currently in circulation was slightly different from that approved by the President and the Board as it was singlehandedly changed by the former governor.

During cross-examination by defence counsel, Olalekan Ojo, SAN, Adamu was asked whether before now there must be a board recommendation before presidential approval and he answered in the affirmative.

Counsel for the defendant asked the witness if he was aware of any consequences for failure to abide by procedures or any provision in the CBN Act, he said he could not remember.

The judge ruled that the witness should be allowed to refresh his memory by going through the statement and he subsequently did and agreed Justice Anenih adjourned the suit to November 17 for continuation of trial.