Nigeria’s Senate President, Godswill Akpabio has stated that President Bola Tinubu’s administration does not know what crime to charge former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele with.
Gatekeepers News reports that Akpabio said this while speaking in a video of a church programme posted by Channels Television on its X handle on Sunday.
Akpabio attributed the current economic hardship and hunger in Nigeria to the actions and policies implemented during Emefiele’s tenure at the apex bank.
The former Akwa Ibom Governor emphasised that their administration inherited a collapsed economy and has been working to address the challenges.
He acknowledged the severe economic situation in the country and called for patience from Nigerians, stating that solving the problems accumulated over 60 years cannot be done in six months.
He said, “The kind of debts and the kind of economic mess that we are in, a lot of people did not understand. I remember President Obama saying you cannot know Washington until you get to Washington, so by the time we went in to look at the economic situation of the country, it was terrible.
“So you know the former governor of Central Bank, we don’t even know what to charge him with.
“But I know that the hunger in the land is because of the kind of policies and actions that they took.
“We recognise that there is hunger in the land and we are battling to make sure that Nigerians can sleep with their eyes closed. We are battling to ensure that Nigerians can afford three square meals in a day.”
“But be rest assured that we will get to the bottom of this. We campaigned and danced round the country for this job, we will not let you down. All we need is patience; we cannot solve the problem of 60 years in six months,” he added.
On Friday, Afenifere, a Yoruba socio-political group, also blamed the current economic woes on bad economic policies that started with the previous administration.
They criticised Buhari’s regime for not making provisions for subsidies in the last budget which led to the hasty removal of fuel subsidy and creating economic challenges for the present administration.
Afenifere called on state governors to deliver and ensure the security of their people, rather than blaming the government at the centre for the economic situation.
