The trial of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele continued on Tuesday, with a former Director of Operations at the apex bank, Ahmed Umar, testifying that the naira redesign policy implemented by Emefiele in 2022 did not have the approval of the Committee of Governors.
Gatekeepers News reports that Umar, who was led in evidence by EFCC prosecutor Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), told the court that his department was directed to come up with a new design for the naira in August 2022.
“The management of CBN directed my department to come up with a memo on the design of the naira note sometime in August 2022.
“We prepared the bill with the Committee of Governors and passed it through the line Deputy Governor Operations, which he forwarded to the Governor and it was listed for consideration by the Committee of Governors.”
However, the Committee of Governors, which comprised five members including the CBN Governor as chairman, did not approve the proposal when it was presented on October 26, 2022.
Umar said, “We humbly requested the implementation of the amendment. (But) the extract from the COG did not approve item one and item three. While item two was modified to include N200 denomination, the proposal for the exercise in 2023 wasn’t approved by the COG.”
The EFCC has accused Emefiele of spending N18.96 billion on the printing and swapping of new naira notes without the approval of the CBN Board and President Muhammadu Buhari.
Emefiele has denied all allegations, pleading not guilty.
