The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Olayemi Cardoso, said he and his team are not responsible for Nigeria’s current economic woes.
Cardoso stated this while responding to a question about whether the CBN is responsible for the current economic challenges faced by Nigerians at the first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja yesterday.
The CBN boss, however, said the CBN is taking the necessary steps to get the country’s fiscal and monetary health back to normal. He said, “I laugh at that question but it’s not a laughing matter and I think it is very important for Nigerians to understand that the Central Bank Governor — I and my team — are not responsible for the woes that we have today; we are part of the solution.
“We are determined to ensure that we work hard to get out of the mess that Nigeria is in. We assumed responsibility in a time of crisis of confidence; there was a crisis of confidence and you may all want to go to bed and wish that crisis of confidence was not there but it was, and we can’t turn back the clock.
“All we can do is do the difficult things to make a bad situation better and I do believe that the efforts that we are making are beginning to bring back confidence because to be frank, without confidence in your business, you are not going to get far.”
See also Terrorism financing: NLC mobilises for nationwide strike over Ajaeros invitation Following the ongoing face-off between it and Nigeria Police, the leadership of Nigeria Labour Congress has asked its members to be ready to commence a nationwide strike if need be by midnight of Tuesday. The labour centre said in a communique issued after its emergency National Executive Council in Abuja that it had directed all the state chapters and affiliates to mobilise workers for an indefinite strike from midnight if anything happened to the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, who was invited by the police for questioning over terrorism financing allegation. The police invitation to Ajaero comes weeks after policemen conducted a night raid on the NLC national secretariat in Abuja. The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, while justifying the raid, said the police were on the trail of one of the terrorists who masterminded the crisis in Sudan. The police added that the raid was to search for seditious materials in connection to the recent nationwide #EndBadGovernance or hunger protest, which turned violent in parts of the country, particularly in the North, where some protesters were seen waving the Russian flag and demanding President Bola Tinubus resignation. On Monday, the police said Ajaero should appear for questioning at 10 am over allegation of terrorism financing and treasonable felony. But the NLC National Executive Council convened an emergency for Tuesday morning to weigh the situation. Rising from the meeting, the NLC leadership, in their communique, said they viewed Ajaeros summon as a clearly unfounded and politically-motivated investigation. In the communique signed by NLC Deputy President, Ado Sani Minjibir, the congress warned that it will not hesitate to take all necessary actions, including mass protests and industrial actions, to protect the integrity and independence of the labour movement. The NEC directs all affiliates and state councils to immediately commence the process of mobilising their members across the nation. The congress will not hesitate to take all necessary actions, including mass protests and industrial actions, to protect the integrity and independence of the labour movement. If anything happens to the President of the Congress or any other leader of the congress in furtherance of these tendentious allegations by the state; NEC puts all its affiliates and state councils alert to proceed on indefinite nationwide strike action by 12:00 midnight today. The NLC also called on all civil society allies and the general populace to stand in solidarity with the union at this critical moment. The meeting expressed grave concern that rather than extending the demand by the congress for the earlier invasion of its national headquarters by security agencies, the Nigeria Police has chosen to embark on this spurious and fortuitous journey of intimidation, harassment, and witch-hunt. This is nothing but a travesty and a blatant attempt to stifle the voice of the working people and their leadership, as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the International Labour Organization Conventions 87 and 98.In light of this, the NEC of the NLC resolves as follows, it said. NLC said that it had decided to honour the police invitation as a responsible labour centre committed to the rule of law and due process. It however added that it would not sit idly while the rights and freedoms of its members and leaders were trampled upon with impunity by the state. The NLC shall honour the invitation extended to its President by the Nigeria Police but will demand for extension of time given the nature of the invitation. However, we wish to state unequivocally that this does not in any way legitimise the baseless allegations levelled against him
Meanwhile, the CBN has raised its benchmark interest rate, the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), to 22.75 percent.
This represents 400 basis points, up from the current 18.75 percent.
Cardoso disclosed this at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee, MPC meeting held in Abuja today.
It would be recalled that in 2023, Nigeria’s MPC implemented a strategy of gradually increasing the MPR over four consecutive meetings.
Other important indices, such as the Cash Reserves Ratio (CRR) and Liquidity Ratio, stayed constant throughout the time despite these aggressive efforts, with the CRR remaining at 32.5 percent and the Liquidity Ratio at 30.0 percent.
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