PDP asks Emefiele to resign over poor state of economy

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday asked the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, to step aside and allow more competent and less partisan hand to manage the affairs of the country’s apex bank so as to rescue the nation’s economy from the current state of comatose.

The main opposition party in the country said its demand followed an extensive review of the abysmally poor state of the Nigerian economy in the last five years.

In a statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party it was constrained in making the demand but given the inability of President Muhammadu Buhari to be decisive on matters of state, it was bound to demand Mr Emefiele’s resignation to save the national fiscal system.

“Our position is further predicated on the fact that a CBN Governor ought to have the competence and courage to offer and implement sound economic policies and check financial excesses, particularly in a situation where the President is not demonstrating a capacity to effectively run a national economy or check corruption and financial recklessness as being witnessed in our country under President Buhari.

“It is very distressing that the CBN under Emefiele, has allowed itself to be bogged down by the repression, corruption and partisanship that pervade the Buhari administration with the resultant plunging of our nation into an avoidable economic recession and untold hardship in the last five years.

“It is frightening that under this CBN management, our nation is going insolvent with the Federal Government now unable to fulfill some of its major statutory obligations that enhance smooth running of governance.

“The PDP also finds it shocking and very disappointing that the CBN abandoned its statutory roles to engage in vindictive clampdown on accounts of private businessmen and had refused to lift such clampdown despite the ruling of court of competent jurisdiction in that regard.

“It equally scandalous that the CBN is also engaging punitive freezing of bank accounts of Nigerians for participating in the genuine and peaceful EndSARS protests, at a time it should be galvanizing efforts for solutions to the myriads of economic challenges facing our nation presently.

“Such partisan action by the CBN, which had been widely rejected as an act of victimization to economically suffocate Nigerians for calling for good governance, respect for human rights, end to police brutality and manifest slide to lawlessness, is already threatening the stability of our banking sector.

“Nigerians, in their objection to the action of the CBN, are already poising to close their accounts and boycott financial transactions with some of commercial banks over the matter,” PDP said.

The PDP stressed that the nation cannot afford another round of restiveness, particularly relating to the banking and finance sector, as such will not augur well with Nigeria’s struggling economy at this time.

“Our party therefore holds that instead of engaging in actions that do not engender hope at this critical time, the CBN, is rather expected to assist government by coming up with policies and programmes that will urgently revamp our productive sector, reposition our economy and provide jobs, employment and gainful economic participation for millions of youths across the country.

“Furthermore, a responsive Central Bank should by now be interested in offering urgent strategies that will buoy up the value of our naira, which has fallen to a devastating N476 to a dollar, thereby wrecking the purchasing power of our citizens under its watch.

“The CBN should rather be thinking of ways to improve on our gross domestic produce (GDP), curb rising inflation, check the deplorable depletion of our foreign reserves, end the reckless borrowing by the Buhari administration; a situation that has produced a debt burden of N31 trillion; as well as the ongoing mortgaging of our sovereignty to foreign interests.

“In fact, under this CBN, with the projected N5.2 trillion borrowing already proposed in the 2021 budget, our nation’s debt will hit a calamitous N36.2 trillion, needless to say that this will plunge our nation into a bottomless pit of economic depression,” the party added.

The PDP said that the pandering to partisan and parochial action by the CBN was also responsible for the erosion of investors’ confidence and the dearth of foreign direct investments into the country, leading to a crisis situation in the economy.

“Our party therefore asserts that there is no way our economy can be pulled out of the woods under the prevailing situation where the Central Bank under the leadership Godwin Emefiele, has failed to demonstrate the capacity to initiate, articulate and implement policies that will lift the economy, particularly under a manifestly incompetent, parochial and corrupt administration, as we have today in our country,” PDP said.