Nigeria’s Central Bank Chief Arrested, Suspended By President

By Chinedu Asadu Associated Press

Nigeria’s central bank chief has been arrested hours after being suspended from office by the country’s new president, authorities said Saturday.

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, is in “custody for some investigative reasons,” Nigeria’s secret police said in a statement without providing further details. The country’s new president, Bola Tinubu, suspended Emefiele as the central bank governor on Friday night, nine years after he was appointed to office to oversee the monetary policy affairs of Africa’s biggest economy and most populous country.

Emefiele’s arrest culminates months of investigation into his office by Nigeria’s Department of State Services, whose bid to arrest him in December was declined by a local court. The secret police had accused him of terrorism financing and economic crimes, but a judge ruled that it couldn’t provide evidence to support the allegations. It wasn’t immediately clear if new findings were made in the investigation.

the fact that he was not so kind in his policies leading up to the (February presidential) election. Rather than focusing on reducing inflation, he contributed to Nigeria’s high inflation by giving money to the federal government, printing money essentially to give loans,” added Gbemisola.

among the highest in the world.

Despite abundant natural resources—especially oil and gas—and the billions of dollars these resources bring in, the country is marked by chronic hunger, a crumbling education system, frequent blackouts, poor sanitation, and disease.

With the exit of ExxonMobil due to safety issues, the country’s aged Zafiro offshore oil and gas production unit will need a $3 billion revamp when it is transferred to state-owned GEPetrol by 2025.

Recent visitors from the International Monetary Fund

(IMF) to Equatorial Guinea cited more trouble on the horizon for this once oil-rich country.

When the IMF visit ended this month, representative Mesmin Koulet-Vickot observed: “…It is critical to … continue with governance reforms to increase transparency and making further progress in anti-corruption legislation.”

Anti-corruption efforts expected of the government but not carried out were identified by Transparency International (TI) - a global movement working in over 100 countries to end the injustice of corruption by promoting transparency, accountability and integrity.

Emefiele’s suspension “is sequel to the ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy,” according to a statement from the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi, a deputy governor at the bank, immediately took over as acting governor.

“While the government audited some minor state owned companies that have surfaced as centers for corruption scandals… there is still no commitment to publish audits of national oil companies such as GEPETROL or SONAGAS,” TI noted.

Analysts, however, said Emefiele’s removal from office didn’t come as a surprise, pointing to some policies he introduced in recent months which were seen as controversial. Abiola Gbemisola, a Lagos-based financial analyst, identified some of those policies as the bank’s currency swap program as well as its decision to continuously print and lend money to the Nigerian government.

“The central bank governor was very powerful” in office, Gbemisola said.

‘’I wasn’t expecting him to stay under the new administration, especially given

“The anti-corruption plan also required the country to apply to become a member of the Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative, however, this process continues to be blocked since 2010 due to shrinking space for civil society among other causes.”

Tutu Alicante, executive director of EG Justice, a group promoting human rights, transparency and civic par-