Fakoyejo OlalekanThe Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has revealed the reason Nigeria’s inflation and the exchange rate has been on an upward path under President Muhammadu Buhari.
Obi said the fiscal rascality or weak governance structure is to blame for the level of the inflation rate which is 21.34 per cent as of December, above the 15.63 per cent rate recorded in December 2021.
He cited the same reason for the exchange rate between the naira and the dollar, which rose by 9.18 per cent in the official market last year, and 30.9 per cent in the black market.
The former Anambra State governor said the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, was not to be blamed for the inflation and exchange rate crisis.
“First let me assure you, the central bank will maintain its independence. It will be respected. Again, it is not the problem of the person there (Emefiele).
“The Central Bank has a role of monitoring policies. Then, you have the fiscal space,” Obi said at the Chatham House in the United Kingdom on Monday.
Explaining his reason for not faulting Emefiele, Obi said if another central bank governor comes in, the situation will not change, cause the system is weak.
“It is because there is a weak governance structure, that is why we are able to do what we are doing today and that is why what is happening is happening,” Obi said.
Speaking further, the businessman stated: “Replacing Godwin Emefiele and putting somebody with that level of fiscal rascality — which is what is fueling our inflation and our rate of exchange today — and as long as the government continues on that fiscal rascality, that situation will occur. That is what you need to fix.”
“Nigeria is today the only oil nation apart from Venezuela, because of sanctions, that is not meeting up its quota because over the years of oil theft, the multinationals have not been investing. Coupled with the theft and everything we are not realising what we are supposed to do,” he added.
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