Economy
Corruption Derailed CBN Gov, Emefiele – Sen Girei
Senator Abubakar Girei, a stalwart of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Nigeria, has alleged that former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Godwin Emefiele allowed himself to be derailed from the core values of his office when he decided to engage in corrupt practices.
He also expressed optimism that with the way President Bola Tinubu started his government with the bold, courageous and decisive steps, Nigeria is on the path to economic and social recovery.
Girei who spoke with Correspondent Yagana Ali in Yola also called on the Tinubu led government to put strong palliatives in place to cushion the negative effects of the subsidy removal on the toiling Nigerian masses.
Excerpts:
As a son of Adamawa State how did you receive the appointment of one of the sons of the soil, Malam Nuhu Ribadu as the National Security Adviser (NSA) to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu?
I felt elated, animated and energized when the announcement was made because I know that behind that singular decision, lies a strong resolve and political will of ending the scourge of social and other forms of insecurity in the land. In Nigeria, no one needs to be told the antecedents of Malam Nuhu Ribadu as far as work ethics, discipline moral standing and courage are concerned. If there is anyone in Nigeria that has the courage and will to address the security imbroglio facing the country, that man is Nuhu Ribadu.
Such act of appointing the right people into the right positions gives us the hope that unlike in the past, Tinubu came with the clear intension of resolving our numerous socio-economic challenges. With such mindset, it is my humble belief that Tinubu is the messiah Nigeria is earnestly waiting for at this critical point in our nation’s history.
I will say with all sense of modesty that Ribadu will not disappoint Tinubu and Nigeria. And I assure the president, the people of Adamawa State, in fact I dare say Nigerians, will give Ribadu 100% support to succeed in this important national assignment.
In the same vein, I must also give the president a big kudos for selecting his new Service Chiefs and other appointments he made so far. I personally know some of them and I can assure you they are men of valour, timber and caliber who will do this nation proud, I have the instincts that the menace of social insecurity will soon be over in the country.
Nigeria’s economy is currently in a comatose state with high inflation, crippling interest rates, high unemployment and huge debt portfolio amongst many other challenges. A number of analysts have posited that the country is at a tipping point economically. Do you think Tinubu has the capacity to rejuvenate the ailing economy?
Tinubu is a man who came to the job well prepared. The president is a man who will never hide under excuses to evade discharging his responsibility. In fact, as a world class financial expert, Tinubu knows the economic challenges bedeviling Nigeria very well. He has already started attacking some of the challenges behind our economic dislocation and very soon Nigeria’s economic landscape will change for the better.
It is my hope that the president will assemble a team of experts and people with unquestionable character, integrity and reputation in his subsequent appointments. These experts should invest adequate time to intensively understudy the challenges facing Nigeria and give them serious thoughts and come up with far reaching solutions for the benefit of the country.
We can’t afford to fiddle at this very crucial time because Nigeria is on the verge of the precipice and the slightest error of judgement may become the lethal dose that will set us tipping. We must therefore, rally behind the president in his resolve to proffer lasting solutions to our security, economic and other challenges.
The major challenges stunting our development as a nation are corruption and lack of political will to enforce rule of law. I urge the president to accord seriousness in monitoring and evaluating his appointees. Goals should be set alongside timelines, anyone who fails to measure up should be shown the way out. The president should also ensure that measures are put in place to stamp out corruption or to at least lessen it because no serious achievement could be made if political appointees are not held accountable.
The subsidy quagmire was as old as Nigeria itself as various administrations alluded to their failures to deliver to the subsidy conundrum. Do you think with the subsidy removal Nigeria will get it right this time around?
This is what I referred to as the boldness of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Since he came, unlike any other administration he has removed the petrol subsidy which has lingered for time immemorial, suspended CBN governor, Emefiele, suspended EFCC Chairman, Bawa and harmonized the exchange rate as well as other very significant actions he took in a very short space of time.
With this kind of courage, I believe the president will make a lot of inroads in a short time. But I will not fail to say that some of these courageous policies also have their flipsides especially on the lives and livelihood of Nigeria’s toiling masses. Even before the introduction of these policies, life for an ordinary Nigerian is a mishmash of agonies and pains. Already, there is crippling inflation, high unemployment rate, massive insecurity, and dearth of infrastructure which is responsible for the staggering poverty levels we had as over 133 million out of the 200 million Nigerians according to studies, are currently subjected to multidimensional poverty.
What is your take on the arrest of the suspended CBN Governor, Emefiele?
The suspended CBN governor has long outlived his usefulness. Emifiele has only succeeded in bastardizing the economy as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu rightly said during his visit to France recently. The inglorious reign of Emefiele has nearly brought Nigeria to its knees because of a regime of unprecedented mismanagement, abuse of office, looting of our treasuries and high-handedness that took place.
He almost ruined our naira through massive printing of our currency, introduction of a regime of multifaceted exchange rates and at a point even contested for the presidency and lately came up with the naira swap policy which caused massive havoc to Nigerians.
The suspended CBN governor has also bastardized the agricultural sector and completely abandoned his role as the CBN governor and turned himself to a farm manager. Because of that, the real agricultural practice was relegated to the background. He corruptly introduced all sorts of contraptions through which massive larceny took place.
We have federal ministry of agriculture, states ministries of agriculture, we also have agricultural development authorities, we have river basin development authorities and we have bank of agriculture. But in his desire to fritter away tax payers money, Emefiele abandoned all the existing institutions meant to administer the agricultural sector and introduced those contraptions I mentioned earlier in his desire to shortchange Nigerians.
If the CBN governor has involved the bank of agriculture in channeling the massive resources he spent in funding his pet contraptions to the peasant farmers as is being done, Nigeria would have become a hub of food exportation to other countries. The suspension and arrest of Emefiele is a right step in the right direction. The government should go further to dissolve the new outfits Emefiele created and merge them with long standing institutions.
What is your take on the election of the new leadership of National Assembly?
As we all know, the national assembly is the bastion of democracy. Our democracy is completely hinged on the legislative arm of government. It is the only institution that guarantees the sustainability of democracy. Judiciary and executive arms are very important too, but the most important arm is the legislative arm.
The NASS has elected its leaders in a free and fair atmosphere even though with some guidance as dictated by the circumstances we find ourselves. My call is for the winners of the election to be magnanimous in victory and to carry his fellow contestant as equal partners in the progress of that important arm of government. I will also call on those who lost the election to accept the outcome in good faith. My call on the leadership to be magnanimous in victory is based on the ugly experience of 1999 of which I was an actor. Because of the failure of the then Senate President Evans Enwerem to carry Sen. Chuba Okadigbo along, the senate from the beginning to its end was embroiled in crisis which snowballed into the disgraceful fall of Enwerem.
I’m optimistic the new leadership of the senate, will be able to provide the leadership needed to ensure peace and stability of the 10th National Assembly and to also carry out its oversight functions effectively.
How confident are you in the abilities of Tinubu to deliver the goods?
I have absolute confidence that Tinubu will deliver on his mandate because the President has demonstrated that many years ago even before he became the Governor of Lagos State. Tinubu was among the close allies of Abiola who supported him to win the annulled June 12 election of 1993. We all know what he did when he became the Governor of Lagos State. In 1999 everybody was afraid to go to Lagos State because of the activities of the ‘Area Boys’ and other security concerns.
In his first term, he completely rid Lagos of the activities of the Area Boys and all other security concerns hence turning Lagos to a model city. In his second coming, he turned around the economic fortunes of the state despite the unnecessary altercation with President Olusegun Obasanjo that led to the withdrawal of the allocation of the state for several months. Today Lagos is more economically viable than many countries and that clearly shows that Tinubu has the antecedents to succeed even at a higher level because Lagos state is a real example of the complexity and heterogeneity of the Nigerian State.
The Federal Government says it will continue to borrow within manageable and sustainable limits in accordance with the Debt Management Office (DMO) debt sustainability framework.
This is contained in a statement by the Director, Information and Public Relations in the Ministry of Finance, Mr Mohammed Manga, in Abuja on Wednesday.
President Bola Tinubu recently requested the approval of the 2024 – 2026 external borrowing rolling plan from the National Assembly.
Tinubu has requested the National Assembly’s approval to secure external loans of 21.5 million dollars and 15 billion Yuan, along with a grant of 65 million Euro, as part of the federal government’s proposed 2025–2026 external borrowing plan.
Manga said that the proposed borrowing plan was an essential component of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) in accordance with both the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 and the DMO Act 2003.
“The plan outlines the external borrowing framework for both the federal and sub-national governments over a three-year period, accompanied by five detailed appendices on the projects, terms and conditions, implementation period, etc.
“By adopting a structured, forward-looking approach, the plan facilitates comprehensive financial planning and avoids the inefficiencies of ad-hoc or reactive borrowing practices.
“This strategic method enhances the country’s ability to implement effective fiscal policies and mobilise development resources,” he said.
According to the statement, the borrowing plan does not equate to actual borrowing for the period.
“The actual borrowing for each year is contained in the annual budget. In 2025, the external borrowing component is 1.23 billion dollars, and it has not yet been drawn.
“This is planned for H2 2025, the plan is for both federal and several state governments across numerous geopolitical zones including Abia, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Kaduna, Lagos, Niger, Oyo, Sokoto, and Yobe States.
“Importantly, it should be noted that the borrowing rolling plan does not equate to an automatic increase in the nation’s debt burden.
“The nature of the rolling plan means that borrowings are split over the period of the projects, for example, a large proportion of projects in the 2024–2026 rolling plan have multi-year drawdowns of between five to seven years which are project-tied loans,” Manga said.
He said that these projects cut across critical sectors of the economy, including power grids and transmission lines, irrigation for improving food security, fibre optics network across the country, fighter jets for security, rail and road infrastructure.
According to him, the majority of the proposed borrowing will be sourced from the country’s development partners, like the World Bank, African Development Bank, French Development Agency, European Investment Bank, JICA, China EximBank, and the Islamic Development Bank.
Manga said that these institutions offer concessional financing with favourable terms and long repayment periods, thereby supporting Nigeria’s development objectives sustainably.
He said that the government seeks to reiterate that the debt service to revenue ratio has started decreasing from its peak of over 90 per cent in 2023.
Manga said that the government has ended the distortionary and inflationary ways and means.
According to him, there is significant revenue expectations from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC Ltd), technology-enabled monitoring and collection of surpluses from government owned enterprises and revenue-generating ministries, departments, and agencies and legacy outstanding dues.
“Having achieved a fair degree of macroeconomic stabilisation, the overarching goal of the federal government is to pivot the economy onto a path of rapid, sustained, and inclusive economic growth.
“Achieving this vision requires substantial investment in critical sectors such as transportation, energy, infrastructure, and agriculture.
“These investments will lay the groundwork for long-term economic diversification and encourage private sector participation.
“Our debt strategy is therefore guided not solely by the size of our obligations, but by the utility, sustainability, and economic returns of the borrowing,” he said.(NAN)
The Federal Government says it will continue to borrow within manageable and sustainable limits in accordance with the Debt Management Office (DMO) debt sustainability framework.
This is contained in a statement by the Director, Information and Public Relations in the Ministry of Finance, Mr Mohammed Manga, in Abuja on Wednesday.
President Bola Tinubu recently requested the approval of the 2024 – 2026 external borrowing rolling plan from the National Assembly.
Tinubu has requested the National Assembly’s approval to secure external loans of 21.5 million dollars and 15 billion Yuan, along with a grant of 65 million Euro, as part of the federal government’s proposed 2025–2026 external borrowing plan.
Manga said that the proposed borrowing plan was an essential component of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) in accordance with both the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 and the DMO Act 2003.
“The plan outlines the external borrowing framework for both the federal and sub-national governments over a three-year period, accompanied by five detailed appendices on the projects, terms and conditions, implementation period, etc.
“By adopting a structured, forward-looking approach, the plan facilitates comprehensive financial planning and avoids the inefficiencies of ad-hoc or reactive borrowing practices.
“This strategic method enhances the country’s ability to implement effective fiscal policies and mobilise development resources,” he said.
According to the statement, the borrowing plan does not equate to actual borrowing for the period.
“The actual borrowing for each year is contained in the annual budget. In 2025, the external borrowing component is 1.23 billion dollars, and it has not yet been drawn.
“This is planned for H2 2025, the plan is for both federal and several state governments across numerous geopolitical zones including Abia, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Kaduna, Lagos, Niger, Oyo, Sokoto, and Yobe States.
“Importantly, it should be noted that the borrowing rolling plan does not equate to an automatic increase in the nation’s debt burden.
“The nature of the rolling plan means that borrowings are split over the period of the projects, for example, a large proportion of projects in the 2024–2026 rolling plan have multi-year drawdowns of between five to seven years which are project-tied loans,” Manga said.
He said that these projects cut across critical sectors of the economy, including power grids and transmission lines, irrigation for improving food security, fibre optics network across the country, fighter jets for security, rail and road infrastructure.
According to him, the majority of the proposed borrowing will be sourced from the country’s development partners, like the World Bank, African Development Bank, French Development Agency, European Investment Bank, JICA, China EximBank, and the Islamic Development Bank.
Manga said that these institutions offer concessional financing with favourable terms and long repayment periods, thereby supporting Nigeria’s development objectives sustainably.
He said that the government seeks to reiterate that the debt service to revenue ratio has started decreasing from its peak of over 90 per cent in 2023.
Manga said that the government has ended the distortionary and inflationary ways and means.
According to him, there is significant revenue expectations from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC Ltd), technology-enabled monitoring and collection of surpluses from government owned enterprises and revenue-generating ministries, departments, and agencies and legacy outstanding dues.
“Having achieved a fair degree of macroeconomic stabilisation, the overarching goal of the federal government is to pivot the economy onto a path of rapid, sustained, and inclusive economic growth.
“Achieving this vision requires substantial investment in critical sectors such as transportation, energy, infrastructure, and agriculture.
“These investments will lay the groundwork for long-term economic diversification and encourage private sector participation.
“Our debt strategy is therefore guided not solely by the size of our obligations, but by the utility, sustainability, and economic returns of the borrowing,” he said.(NAN)
The Chairman, Joint Tax Board (JTB), Dr Zacch Adedeji, has urged officials of the board to organise traders and artisans into a formal body before capturing them in the tax net.
Adedeji said that this was in line with the agenda of President Bola Tinubu not to tax poverty but prosperity.
The chairman stated this at the 157th Joint Tax Board meeting held in Ibadan, on Monday.
The theme of the meeting “Taxation of the Informal Sector: Potentials and Challenges”.
Speaking on the theme of the event, Adedeji stressed the need to evolve a system that would make the informal sector formal before it could be taxed.
Adedeji, who also doubles as the Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, (FIRS), said “What I would not expect from the JTB meeting is to define a system that would tax the informal sector.
“The only thing is to formalize the informal sector, not to design a system on how to collect tax from market men and women.
“As revenue administrator, our goal is to organise the informal sector so that it can fit into existing tax law.”
Citing a report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in the first quarter of 2023, the chairman said that the nation’s unemployment index was attributable to recognised informal work.
Adedeji stated that workers in that sector accounted for 92.6 per cent of the employed population in the country as at Q1 2023.
“JTB IS transiting to the Joint Revenue Board with expanded scope and functions.
“We are hopeful that by the time we hold the next meeting of the Board, the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Bill would have been signed into Law by the President.
“The meetings of the board provide the platform for members to engage and brainstorm on contemporary and emerging issues on tax, and taxation,” he said.
In his address, Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, said the theme of the meeting was apt and timely, stressing that it coincides with the agenda of the state to improve on its internally generated revenue.
According to him, the meeting should find the best way forward in addressing the issue of the informal sector and balance the identified challenges.
“Nigeria is rich in natural resources, but it is a poor country because economic prosperity does not base on natural resources,”
Makinde also said that knowledge, skill and intensive production were required for economic prosperity, not just the availability of natural resources.
He stressed the need to move from expecting Federal Allocations to generating income internally.
“We are actively ensuring that people are productive and moving the revenue base forward,” Makinde said.
The governor said that tax drive should be done by simplifying tax processes, incentives for compliance like access to empowerment schemes and loans.
He urged JTB to deepen partnership and innovation in using data on tax to track and administer it.
Earlier, the Executive Chairman, Oyo State Board of Internal Revenue, Mr Olufemi Awakan, said the meeting was to address tax-related matters, evolve a workable, effective and
efficient tax system across the states and at the Federal level.
He urged participants to find amicable solutions to challenges of tax jurisdiction, among others.
Tax administrators from all the 36 states of the federation, who are members of JTB, were in attendance. (NAN)
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operation Unit (FOU), Zone D, has seized smuggled goods worth over N110 million between April 20 till date.
The Comptroller of Customs, Abubakar Umar, said this at a news conference on Tuesday in Bauchi.
He listed the seized items to include 11,200 litres of petrol; 192 bales of second hand clothing, 140 cartons of pasta, 125 pairs of jungle boots, 47 bags of foreign parboiled rice and 9.
40 kilogramme of pangolin scales.Umar said the items were seized through increased patrols, intelligence-led operations, and strengthened inter-agency collaboration.
The comptroller said the pangolin scales would be handed over to the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) for appropriate action, while the seized petrol would be auctioned, and the proceeds remitted to the federation account.
He attributed the decrease in smuggling activities of wildlife, narcotics, and fuel to the dedication and professionalism displayed by the personnel in line with Sections 226 and 245 of the NCS Act 2023.
The comptroller enjoined traders to remain law abiding, adding the service would scale up sensitisation activities to combat smuggling.
“We remain resolute in securing the borders and contributing to Nigeria’s economic development,” he said.
The FOU Zone D comprises Adamawa; Taraba, Bauchi, Gombe, Borno, Yobe, Plateau, Benue and Nasarawa. (NAN)
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