From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
An International Transparency group, Council of Economic Experts and Transparency Initiatives (CEETI) has thrown its weight behind the Federal Government approved policy initiated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to redesign N1, 000, N500, and N200 notes, describing the calls by sponsored groups for the sack of the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele as ridiculous and shameful.
According to CEETI, while groups like Alliance Network Against Corruption (ANAC) and others protesting against the naira notes redesign policy have the right to express doubts over the new CBN policy, they should be worried that within the last few weeks since the policy unveiled, billions of naira have been exposed to have been unearthed where they were stored by wicked politicians who pay these protesters to protest and are calling for the sack of the CBN Governor.
The coordinator of CEETI, Dr. Joseph Akponede, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to shun the shameful calls for the sack of Emefiele, describing the desperate attempts to derail the new CBN policy as “corruption fighting back”.
He pointed out that in the eyes of many Nigerians; the CBN has demonstrated enough professionalism in defending the naira and by extension, savaging the Nigerian economy, especially, through its recent policy to redesign higher denominations of the naira, a move that has been widely commended by economic and financial experts globally.
The statement read in part, “We are working to see a Nigeria where citizens will be informed and empowered, governments are open, responsive, and collective actions will advance the public good. “We are shocked and disgusted that groups such as ANAC and others would be protesting against the CBN policies including the redesigning of the naira notes at a time when politicians have amass insane wealth and collectively stored trillions of naira in their homes, storage facilities, and in other ridiculous places to perpetuate their inordinate ambition of causing insecurity and manipulating the nation’s political journey for their selfish interest.
“While we read the shameful calls for the sack of Godwin Emefiele and the plan for protest march in Abuja, and the fictitious and unreasonable allegation of failed economic policies, we want to warn those protesters that are paid by these corrupt politicians to have a rethink and reject attempts by these shady dubious politicians to continue to have their ways. Our organisation and other well-meaning Nigerians have our rights to protect the sanctity of the nation’s economic policies, and may counter these protests if the security agencies do not call these sponsored goons to order.”