December 22, (THEWILL) – Despite claims by former President, Muhammadu Buhari, that the redesign of the N1000, N500 and N200 banknotes was his initiative and actually received his endorsement, the Special Investigator appointed by President Bola Tinubu to probe the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Jim Obazee, said the redesign banknotes “was neither recommended by the Board of the CBN nor approved by the then President, Muhammadu Buhari, in contravention of the provisions of Section 19 (1) of the CBN Act, 2007.”
THEWILL recalls the several statements by former President, Buhari, where he claimed ownership of the initiative and endorsement of the redesigned banknotes.
Speaking on November 20, during an interview on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Buhari said the policy was targeted to protect his integrity and to show Nigerians there was no shortcut to success.
Noting that he was not surprised at the forces against the policy, especially the court action by governors from his own party to reverse the policy, Buhari said: “Whether Nigerians believe it or not, we are an underdeveloped country. And in that sort of situation, there’s materialism and sometimes, ruthlessly, they didn’t care how they made the money.
“I still feel that the only way I could deprive these people was just to make sure that my integrity became unquestionable…I think as a developing country we still have a long way to go.
“The motivation (for introducing the policy) was to try and make Nigerians believe that there is no shortcut to successful leadership.”
But despite these claims, Obazee’s report claimed that the former CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, did not consult with the management of the CBN nor seek any recommendation from the Board of the CBN as required by Section 19 of the CBN Act, 2007.
“It was a conspiracy against the Nigerian people and specifically the political class by the then CBN Governor (Mr Godwin Emefiele) and one of the erstwhile CBN Deputy Governor (Mr Folashodun Shonubi). The idea was that of Mr Shonubi (claiming interwoven challenges) and Mr Godwin Emefiele designed and approved the currency on October 19, 2022.
“It was indeed meant to frustrate the political class and make their election agenda very difficult. It turned out to be a huge punishment to Nigerians and the Nigerian economy coincidentally.”
“Obazee noted that the former president tagged along but did not approve the redesign as required by law, saying that “Buhari merely approved that the currency be printed in Nigeria.”
He added that the redesign was only mentioned to the board of the CBN on December 15, 2022, after Emefiele had awarded the contract to Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc on October 31, 2022.
Obazee added that “the sum of N1,727,500,000 was also spent on questionable legal fees on 19 cases that are directly traceable to the Naira redesign and reconfiguration agenda.”
The Special Investigator also alleged that Emefiele and his deputies were involved in fraudulent activities related to the misapplication of the “Ways and Means” facility.
“Section 38 of the CBN Act, 2007 allows the CBN to grant temporary advances to the Federal Government in respect of temporary deficiency of budget revenue at an interest. This is what is commonly referred to as “Ways and Means”.
“The said Section also provides that such advance is to be repaid by the end of the Federal Government financial year in which they are granted, otherwise the CBN shall be stopped from granting such advances in subsequent years. The advance is never to be repaid by way of Promissory note, Securitisation nor issuance of Treasury Bills; etc.
“It was a surprise, Mr President, that under the last administration, the noble outlet became a huge source of fraudulent drain pipe for the then Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, the erstwhile CBN Governor, all the four deputy CBN Governors (under the guise of COG), the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, the Accountant General of the Federation and even the then Chief of Staff, In an instance, they padded what the former President Muhammadu Buhari approved with N198,963,162,187 (approximating an approval of N801,036,937,813 to N1 trillion)”, Obazee said.
Obazee noted that there are instances where no approvals are received from Buhari and yet, N500 billion is taken and debited to Ways and Means and that Emefiele and his four deputy Governors colluded to outrightly steal to balance the books of the CBN.
