Atiku promises to sack Emefiele as CBN Governor if he is elected President

Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 16, 2019 presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, will tinker with the operations of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) if he is elected, remove restrictions on the exchange rate and not renew the tenure of the CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele.

Former federal Minister, Osita Chidoka, who works for the Atiku campaign and joined the candidate on a recent trip to the United States, told Reuters that Atiku will separate the supervisory and monetary policy functions of the CBN and transition the Naira to a managed float.

"Bankers are really conflicted when you put them in the role of regulators," Chidoka was quoted as saying by Reuters, adding that the nation’s apex bank is yet to sufficiently divide its supervisory and monetary policy functions as other countries do.

"The central bank is high on the list of agencies that will witness a restructuring to be sure that it is reflective of the dynamics of today's economy”, Chidoka said.

CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, will be removed as soon as Atiku is inaugurated (The Nation) ece-auto-gen

Emefiele is called a Buhari supporter who is not independent

Chidoka also revealed that Atiku doesn’t rate Emefiele because he doesn’t think he is best placed to continue at the helm, given his past record of supporting the government.

"He wasn't independent," said Chidoka. "You really need a development mindset and an economist ... it doesn't have to be a banker, it has to be someone who thinks about the economy in a holistic way."

Atiku has positioned himself as the pro-business and pro-private sector candidate ahead of the vote.

His proposal to float the Naira essentially means he will allow the value of the nation’s currency to be determined by market forces and lift the lid on import restrictions of items that can be produced back home.

"Nigeria cannot afford to keep the naira at 305 (to the dollar), creating a window for arbitrage. On the street it is 360 - a 55 naira difference”, Chidoka said.

Osita Chidoka (left) joined Atiku and Saraki to the United States (Ditan Okupe) Pulse Nigeria

In an interview with Bloomberg, Atiku said of Emefiele: "I don't think he's pursued the right policies. We have to have the right people in there".

Atiku also said he'd make the change when Emefiele's first term ends in June

In a swift reaction, Emefiele says Atiku’s economic prescriptions will spell doom for Nigeria.

Emefiele reacts to Atiku's policy prescriptions

Addressing journalists at the end of the bi-monthly Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, the first for the year, Emefiele said the “MPC reviewed it (Atiku’s proposals) and concluded that it would be wrong. It is as good as saying that we should go back to the era of Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in Nigeria. The implication can better be imagined. It will certainly lead to capital flight, lead to massive depreciation or devaluation of the currency and ultimately to currency crisis in Nigeria and I think we should all know that it is a road to perdition to ever go in that direction.”

Governor Godwin Emefiele announces that Nigeria's central bank is keeping its benchmark interest rate on hold at 13 percent in Abuja, Nigeria, July 24, 2015. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde ece-auto-gen

Emefiele went on: “Normally, the Central Bank as an independent institution is apolitical but it is also important that at the MPC meeting today we asked ourselves if there is any merit in it to begin to say that we should look at free-floating the currency or that we should allow free import of goods that we have restricted. The MPC came to a conclusion that this was a wrong premise.

“We cannot be talking about allowing import of items that can be produced in the country today, exporting jobs from Nigeria to foreign countries, and we say we have the interest of Nigeria at heart? We don’t agree with anybody. It is a wrong premise to say that you will allow imports to just flood the country just because you want to please anybody. It is not in our interest.

“We will remain apolitical. We will not want anybody to drag the central bank into issues that are within our remit otherwise, we would respond to it.”

Emefiele's tenure in brief

Emefiele, 57, was appointed CBN Governor on June 3, 2014 by former President Goodluck Jonathan, following the unceremonious and controversial exit of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

On Emefiele's watch, the CBN has tightened capital controls to discourage importation, restricted importation to encourage local production and closely monitored the value of the Naira.

President Muhammadu Buhari and the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele share a moment (The Guardian) ece-auto-gen

Nigeria currently runs a multiple exchange rate system which has been heavily criticized by pundits and international investors alike.

On the restriction placed on the importation of certain items, Emefiele said he's convinced that is still the way to go.

“We would go through our records and once we convince ourselves that these products can be produced in Nigeria, we will place them on the FX restriction list. It means that you cannot source foreign exchange from Nigeria foreign exchange market to import those items into Nigeria.

"If you have free dollars, you can bring it in but you will not be able to even make payments for those goods with dollars from the Nigerian foreign exchange market.

"This is because we think that the initiatives that CBN has put in place in the past to cut imports and diversify the structure of the Nigerian economy is yielding results and we will continue to be that aggressive", the CBN Governor said.

President Buhari has said he decided to retain Emefiele as CBN boss so he could right the alleged corruption and heist that was unleashed on the apex bank during the Jonathan era.