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Why Emefiele was not sacked as CBN governor – Buhari

Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari said the presidential bid of Godwin Emefiele did not affect his role Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Emefiele sought to be the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and drew widespread criticisms for being partisan while heading the CBN.

While critics called for Emefiele’s sacking, Buhari said such decisions do not rest solely on him as Nigeria’s President.

“The CBN governor is appointed by the President. But this appointment is subject to confirmation by the Nigerian Senate,” Buhari said as quoted in a Q&A with Bloomberg.

Among other conditions for the removal of a sitting CBN governor, the CBN Act did not list political participation as part of the grounds for the removal of a CBN governor which some of Emefiele’s critics pointed to.

Buhari said such decisions can only be determined by the board of directors of the CBN.

“Ultimately, it will be for the CBN’s board of directors to determine whether a CBN governor’s actions have fallen foul of the laws in place to ensure he can most effectively carry out his duties,” Buhari said.

The president, however, noted that “there is a subtext to the accusations” of Emefiele being unfit to remain CBN governor.

“Because the governor follows a model outside of the economic orthodoxy, he is labelled political. But the orthodoxy has proved wrong time and again,” Buhari said.

“Instead, the governor is following an alternative economic model that puts people at the heart of policy. Nigeria should be free to choose its development model and how to construct our economy, so it functions for Nigerians.”

Emefiele stepped down his presidential ambition before the APC presidential primary election that was won by former Lagos State governor Bola Tinubu in early June.

The CBN governor also withdrew a suit against the attorney-general and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over an alleged plan to disqualify him from contesting for the office of Nigeria’s president.…

Business / News

CBN refunds Nigerians N82b for failed bank transactions

Reprieve may have come the way of commercial bank customers, as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has facilitated their repayment of N82.2 billion for failed transactions. The apex bank said the recovery was based on verified complaints as of June this year.

CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who made the disclosure yesterday in Calabar at the CBN Fair, observed that since customers have rights to redress, they should, without fail, report infractions.

He said: “Oftentimes, there have been sundry issues. Once we get these complaints, we investigate and if the issues are found to be true, we make sure refunds are made. As of June 2021, we have facilitated the refund of N82.2 billion to customers.”

Represented by the Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Osita Nwanisobi, the CBN boss explained that “as of June 2021, not less than 23, 536 complaints were received from which N82.2 billion was refunded.”

He charged customers to always provide factual information to enable the apex bank fact-find.

Emefiele said the CBN was undertaking 37 interventions in the areas of credit, health, commercial agriculture, real and electricity market stabilization sectors, among others.

“During the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, we realized that the global economy was shut down, with families and businesses affected.

“The first thing CBN did was to roll out some interventions to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on livelihoods and businesses. It was a health crisis, and we needed to up our game in terms of health infrastructure,” he stated.

On the exhibition, Emefiele said the event “is to create awareness on our policies, intervention, and programs, as well as getting feedback from Nigerians on how they are impacting their lives and businesses.”

He submitted that with the establishment of SANEF Agent Bankers, about 95 percent of Nigerians would have a bank account opened by 2023, but advised customers to demand ‘Agent Certificate’ from anyone who claims to be a agent.…