A pro-development group, Esan Agenda, has called on Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele, Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed and the Presidency to issue an apology to the Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, for disparaging him when he revealed that the apex bank was printing money indiscriminately to shore up declining government revenues.

Group organizer Mr Akhere Obozele in a statement said the call became necessary in light of the declining exchange rate of the naira against the dollar, which now stands at 710 naira/ $1 as of July 27, 2022; the depletion of the country’s Excess Crude Account (ECA) and the worrying debt service situation.

Obaseki had in April 2021 sounded the alarm that the CBN had printed 60 billion naira to share with state and local governments following the shortfall in government revenue caused by lower oil prices and the failure of government economic fiscal policies.

According to him, “It is now clear to the world that the Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki was right after all when, in 2021, he sounded the alarm over the arbitrary and unsustainable use of money printing and sharing with the states when the government should have taken drastic and fundamental measures to solve the country’s budgetary problems.

“With the uncontrolled decline in the value of the naira, Governor Obaseki is vindicated. The Governor said the Minister of Finance and the Governor of the CBN were playing heads in the sand when they should buckle up and fix Nigeria’s disjointed economy.

The group noted that there was a need to remind Nigerians that the governor predicted that $1 would trade for 1,000 naira if those running the economy did not get it right, a reality that now faces Nigerians in face.

“The governor is an economist, who understands economic fundamentals. If Governor Obaseki gave the alert then, it was because he was patriotic and knew that drastic measures had to be taken. Instead of following his advice, elements within the federal government launched attacks on him and embarked on media tours to denigrate the governor’s patriotic comments.

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