Governor Godwin Emefiele of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should be held responsible for the rising inflation in the country. This is according to Kingsley Moghalu, a former Deputy Governor of the apex bank.
Moghalu who is also an aspirant under the African Democratic Congress (ADC), made this known as he picked up the expression of interest form at the party’s secretariat in Abuja.
While criticising Emefiele’s involvement in politics, Moghalu said the CBN was statutorily responsible to guard against inflation and not the president.
His words, “Inflation is a very serious issue. If you have high inflation in a sustained manner the way we have it, it is a performance failure of the CBN because the President does not manage inflation. Statutorily, it is the function of the CBN.
“And under the CBN act, CBN is supposed to be independent. When I was the deputy governor of CBN between 2009 and 2014, we were able to bring inflation from double-digit down to 8% before we left office. Now inflation is around 16%.”
Speaking further, Moghalu accused Emefiele of using public office to attain his personal interest, urging Nigerians not to reward such an act.
“I weep for this nation with the development at the CBN. It is deeply wrong to play politics while in office. It is a violation of ethics, morals, and the law. What we are seeing is the privatisation of public office for personal gains.
“The CBN act is clear. Section (9) states that the CBN Governor and his Deputy should not engage in other employment or vocation.
“A vocation is something that could take up your time, it may not be a job, it may not be something you could put your hands on, but something that you have your mind and heart in apart from your duties.
“For the CBN Governor, his heart and mind are in politics up to the extent of going to a law court to seek support for his ambition.
“First of all, I want to say Nigerians have no business in rewarding this massive breach of the rule of law because the action of the CBN governor shows contempt of the rule of law.
“The individual in question has been monumentally incompetent and Nigerians should not support incompetence,” he added.
