Northern youths group under the auspices of the Arewa Youth Assembly has thrown its weight behind the new Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) policies, calling on the CBN governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, to remain focused and disregard saboteurs.
The publicity secretary of Arewa Youth Assembly, Alhaji Ali Muhammad, at a press conference on Tuesday on the need for Nigerians to support the new CBN policies on Naira, expressed optimism that the policies will fight banditry and kidnapping for ransom industry, control the amount of money in circulation; fight inflation and address issues of corruption and hoarding of Naira notes by individuals.
He further said that the policies will also help to checkmate the incidences of vote buying, which is the greatest threat to fair and credible elections in 2023, saying that many politicians have stockpiled funds they intend to use for this nefarious purpose.
It could be recalled that the CBN while announcing the policies, said that to forestall the future harboring of naira notes by individuals, it has pegged 100,000 and 500,000 as the maximum cash withdrawal limit for individuals and corporate organizations respectively.
The group who expressed disappointment at some individuals and institutions that are against the policy, saying that to further ensure that the commendable initiative of the CBN fails, both chambers of the National Assembly have openly called for the reversal of the policy or to extension of the implementation dates, but that the call failed due to the open endorsement of the policies by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Nigerians are aware that since he was appointed the CBN governor, he has introduced over 37 interventions to save the economy. The beauty of it all is that these interventions are not for his benefit but for the benefit of the common man.
“It is verifiable that President Muhammadu is fulfilling his campaign promises through Mr. Godwin Emefiele policies, which range from a fight against insecurity, agriculture, job creation, and fight against corruption just to mention but a few.
“It is on record that most countries in the world are yet to recover from the shock caused by the Covid-19 pandemic which crippled the economy of most countries. The handling of the economy, during and after the pandemic by Mr. Emefiele is legendary. Our economy is fairing much better than that of our neighboring countries.
“If Nigerians can not praise the CBN governor for his effort in sailing our country to a safe port, we shouldn’t accuse him of terrorism. Those who are empowered by law to protect us, are sleeping on duty, while miscreants are declaring seats at home in some states in Nigeria, while bandits are in charge of numerous communities. They collect revenues and adjudicate in some instances,” he said.
The Arewa youths called on World Bank, Internal Monetary Fund (IMF), African Development Bank, and other development partners to pay special attention to what is happening in the Central Bank of Nigeria and its governor, to ensure that his tenure is not truncated on false charges.
“Nigerians to continue to support the CBN Governor and his policies, as they are aimed at fighting corruption, banditry, and vote buying. Those with looted funds in their houses should find a way of depositing such monies in any commercial bank rather than trying to use a back door approach to knock off the CBN governor and get the policies reversed through their lackey.
“The judiciary to remain state fast in defending the spirit and letter of our constitution, as they are the last hope of the common man. President Muhammadu Buhari too. urgently sack the DG of DSS to pave way for more energetic Nigerians, to help fight against insecurity,” he stated.
