President Bola Tinubu has opened up on his suspension of Godwin Emefiele as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Tinubu on Friday in Paris, France, said he suspended Emefiele because the country was in a deep financial mess under him.
He disclosed that the flow of forex in and out of the country benefitted and enriched a few people while plunging the vast majority of Nigerians into poverty.
“The financial system was rotten. Few people were making away with our money…that is gone now; the man (Emefiele) is in the hands of the authorities,” Tinubu said at his first Diaspora engagement with Nigerians living in France.
Recall that Emefiele was relieved of his duty as the CBN chief two weeks ago amid allegation of financial impropriety and poor handling of the country’s monetary policies.
His suspension was to allow for the investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector, a statement from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation stated.
Emefiele was later arrested and is currently being detained by the Department of State Services as operatives combed his Lagos residence, where they reportedly recovered some vital documents.
The troubled Emefiele has since approached the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja to challenge his detention by the DSS.
Speaking further in France on Friday, Tinubu said his administration would put in place more financial reforms in the coming weeks.
He said while addressing Nigerians residents in France, “Then, the financial system was rotten. Few people were making away with our money and then you yourselves, stopped sending money home to our poor parents.
“That is gone now. The man (Emefiele) is in the hands of authorities; something is being done about that; they will sort themselves out.
“We have security challenges in the country. Maybe that is how they are fuelling insecurity; we have to look at everything. We will change the financial system; it will work for you.”
The President said he and his Special Adviser on Monetary Policy, Mr Wale Edun, turned the fortunes of Lagos State around between 1999 and 2003 moving the internally generated revenue from N600m annually to N50bn monthly.
“Now, Lagos is on auto pilot. Anybody intelligent enough can navigate it,” he added.
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