By our reporter| Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor (CBN), Godwin Emefiele on Thursday waded into the money printing allegation levelled against the federal government by Edo state governor, Godwin Obaseki.
Emefiele who addressed the controversy while speaking with reporters in Abuja described the Edo state governor’s claim as an unfortunate and totally inappropriate political ploy.
According to the apex bank governor, the CBN is simply lending to states funds disbursed by the federal government to manage the economic difficulties occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“If you understand the concept of printing of money, it is about lending money. There is no need for all the controversy around money printing as if we are going into the factory to print naira and then distribute on the streets,” Emefiele said.
“It is very inappropriate for people to just give some coloration to the word ‘printing of money’ as if it is a foreign word coming from the sky.
“In 2015/2016, we were in a similar [fiscal] situation, but it is far worse today. We provided budget support facility to all the states of the country and that loan remains unpaid till now. We are going to insist on the states paying the loan back since they are effectively accusing us of giving them loans.
“Most countries of the world today are confronted by not just the health crisis from the COVID pandemic but also economic crisis. I keep saying this: it would be irresponsible of the central bank of Nigeria or any central bank to stand idle and refuse to support its government at this time. Whatever we do in Nigeria is being done in any clime.
“Nigeria is unfortunately in a very bad situation and we cannot pretend about it in the sense that we are facing problems about productivity output which is gross domestic product (GDP). We are working very hard to see how we can get our heads above water. We are also concerned with issues of inflation.
“For us to see some people playing some games, overheating his polity talking about printing of money, I think it is unfortunate and totally inappropriate. I would like to advise that this should stop. We should all work for the growth of our country and not play politics.”
Obaseki had last week claimed that the federal government printed between N50 to N60bn to finance the last month’s disbursements to states, a claim, minister of finance, budget, and national planning, Zainab Ahmed dismissed as false on Wednesday.
However, the Edo state governor in a series of tweets on Thursday doubled down on his claim.
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