Civil society coalition condemns calls for Emefiele’s resignation

The Coalition of Civil Society Groups, (CCSG) has condemned calls by some groups for the resignation of the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, over allegations of plunging the economy into a coma.

This was contained in an address signed by the President, CCSG, Etuk Bassey Williams, and Secretary, CCSG, Abubakar Ibrahim, respectively, which was read during a press conference held in Abuja on Tuesday.

According to the coalition the call was allegedly made by the Arewa Youth Assembly, which it described as unsubstantiated and frivolous claim that the policies of the CBN have plunged the county’s economy into coma.

The coalition said, “Sequel to a recent mischievous call for resignation of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)Mr. Godwin Emefiele by some group, whose aim is to distract and unsettle the Government of President Muhammadu Buhari,

“We condemn in strong terms the call for the resignation of the CBN Governor by the Arewa Youth Assembly over an unsubstantiated and frivolous claim that the policies of the CBN have plunged the country’s economy into comatose is laughable and uncharitable. It is unfortunate that some individuals will derive joy in an attempt to pull an achiever down.

“We observe the insincerity and question the genuineness of the claim that the economy is bad today by the same people who asserted that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration inherited an economy that was in a shambles and worsened by a sharp drop in the prices of oil crude at the international market.

“It is common knowledge that expanding export is our surest way to make Naira regain value. It is very important to note that today, Nigeria gains most of its foreign exchange from the sales of crude oil.

“The implication of the above fact is that our over-reliance on crude oil which accounts for more than 90% of Nigerian’s foreign exchange determines the value of the Naira, hence the argument against the CBN Governor is false and meant to derail the economic and monetary policies of the Governor. The peddlers of this falsehood are ill-informed or just being mischievous.”

Meanwhile, the coalition also passed a vote of confidence on the CBN Governor while commending his effort and impact made to keep the economy afloat.

“We appreciate the CBN Governor for making outstanding effort to stimulate the SMEs so as to produce goods that can be exported to enable us increase our foreign exchange earnings as well improves the living standard.

“Today we have witnessed massive support and motivation to rice, cocoa, and groundnut farmers with Agric Loans. He has also assisted the manufacturing industries with loans so as to help them produce quality goods that meet the global standard for exportation,” the coalition noted.