Senate President Godswill Akpabio has lamented that the former Governor to of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, left the nation’s economy in a terrible condition, causing current hardship.
Akpabio said many policies and actions of the former CBN chief while in office caused hunger in the country.
The Senate President revealed this during a thanksgiving service by Senator Barinada Mpigi, in Koroma, Tai Local Government Area of Rivers State on Sunday.
He, however, assured Nigerians that President Bola Tinubu is up to the task of fixing the economy knowing full well that he asked for the job.
Akpabio begged that the Nigerian people should be patient with Tinubu, adding that the maladies of more than 60 years cannot be solved in six months.
“So, the kind of debt and economic mess that we are in, a lot of people will not understand but I remember President Obama saying that you cannot know Washington until you get to Washington,” Akpabio said.
“So, by the time we went in to look at the economic situation of the country, it was terrible. You know that the former governor of the central bank, we did not even know what to charge him with.”
The Senate President said he could be charged for illegal possession of firearms, or printing naira notes without income, saying the federal government did not know what to charge him with.
Akpabio stated, “Whether to charge him for putting foam on top of the bill or to charge him for illegal possession of firearm or to charge him for printing notes without income, I don’t know what we are going to charge him with.
“But what we can is that yes there is hunger today because of the policies and actions that they took, and we recognise that, and I think every political party should recognise that there is hunger, and we are battling to ensure that Nigerians sleep with their eyes closed,” Akpabio said.
“Yes, there is insecurity, we are battling to ensure that Nigerians can take three square meals a day. But be rest assured that we campaigned for this job, we campaigned around the country, we will not let you down, we will get to the bottom of it, all we need is your patience.
“The rots that have happened in Nigeria for so many years for almost 60 years cannot be solved in six months.”
Emefiele has been facing allegations related to financial crimes after he was removed from his position in June 2023.
The federal government, on January 18, expanded the criminal charges against him from six counts to 20 counts.
He was accused of criminal breach of trust, forgery, conspiracy to conduct forgery, procurement fraud, and conspiracy to commit a felony in the amendment.
