Presidency says the ongoing reforms in the Central Bank of Nigeria are geared towards closing gaps which the bank’s former governor, Godwin Emefiele, exploited while in office.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Ajuri Ngelale, stated this while speaking on TVC’s Politics on Sunday.
On June 9, 2023, Tinubu suspended Emefiele sequel to an ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the economy’s financial sector.
Department of State Services later detained the ex-apex bank boss as operatives combed his Lagos residence, reportedly recovering bags of currency notes and documents in the process.
On July 30, 2023, the President appointed a special investigator to probe the CBN, Jim Obazee, the Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria.
Tinubu asked the Special Investigator to probe the CBN and key government business entities, adding that the investigator would report directly to the President’s office.
In the months that followed, more revelations surfaced, including the forging of the signature of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari and documents purportedly written by Boss Mustapha, the former secretary to the government of the federation, to induce the payment of $6.23m from the CBN.
But Ngelale said Tinubu is spearheading reforms that would close the loopholes that gave room for the malpractices of the past.
The presidential spokesperson said, “Moving forward, the kind of elite conspiracy we saw between CBN officials, high-ranking government officials and high-ranking members of the private sector, they’re not going to be able to conspire amongst themselves to find loopholes within the system because we have a President who is an auditor and accountant who will close those loopholes just the way he did in Lagos State many years ago.
“The President (Tinubu) has taken a comprehensive review of the organisational structures that led to Godwin Emefiele putting the nation in the position that it currently is.
“And he has said, even by legislation, that we are going to ensure that not only guardrails are put in place, but that legislative changes be enacted in such a way that this can never happen.”