PUNCH
A pressure group under the aegis of the North-South Progressive Stakeholders on Tuesday berated the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, saying his “failed” policy is grinding the Nigerian economy to a halt.
The development is coming hours after Emefiele ignored the Supreme Court ruling and insisted on going ahead with its February 10 deadline for withdrawal of the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes.
The CBN broke the news during a visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss the monetary and currency redesign policy of the bank.
According to him, since the situation is substantially calming down following the commencement of over-the-counter payments to complement ATM disbursements, there shouldn’t be a need to consider any shift from the earlier deadline.
But the North-South Progressive Stakeholders knocked the CBN for being insensitive to the plight of Nigerians and urged him to allow common sense prevail.
Speaking at a press conference held in Abuja, Co-Convener of the alliance, Ayobami Oyalowo expressed concerns that if Emefiele ‘failed’ policy is not properly addressed, it may bring disrepute to the good intentions of the administration of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
He said, “It is no longer news that Nigerians are suffering untold hardship as a result of ill-timed, myopic and poorly implemented monetary policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, which in a bid to instantly transform the country to a cashless economy has succeeded in creating an unprecedented economic hardship attributed partly to some of its policies in the past.
“The CBN has sucked out blood from the heart of our economy. While banks across the country are under lock and key, queues at ATM points are growing by the day. In major Nigerian cities like Kano, Lagos, Port Harcourt , Enugu, Asaba and Maiduguri, you could count the number of banks that are in operation, since there are no cash to service the growing list of customers requesting for their money.
