Nigeria’s economic experts have frowned at President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive to the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to halt foreign exchange allocation to importers of food.
They insisted such restriction lies exclusively in the hands of the apex bank management that administer monetary policy, adding that the Presidency should insulate the CBN from its politics.
Reacting to the pronouncement, a former minister of education, Oby Ezekwesili, described President Buhari as a “completely out-of-touch leader”.
Ezekwesili also lashed out on the president on Twitter, saying he is living in a bubble.
“A completely out-of-touch ‘leader’. He is cocooned away in the grandeur of @AsoRock where they serve him delicatessen and praise-sing to him: ‘ranka dede sir’, your agriculture policy is working wonderfully. All farmers in Nigeria are now billionaires & exporting to the US,” she said.
Similarly, a former deputy governor of CBN, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, said such an economic policy should not be imposed on the CBN by a political authority, stressing that the bank has lost its independence.
“Nigeria’s entire economy appears to have been sub-contracted to our central bank, including industrial and trade policy. In the process, the economy has fared poorly and the bank has lost its independence. This is sad.
“Is @cenbank now a ministry to be “directed” by President
“The issue here isn’t whether or not CBN should allow access to forex for food imports. It is about whether such an economic policy of a central bank should be imposed by a political authority. A major reason for our poverty, instability and weak economy is weak institutions.
“Our marketplace should be regulated and guided in a rational manner that creates a level playing field. Our economy will not be saved by Ad Hoc political decisions like this, handed down by the very institutions that should be shielded from the whim and caprice of politicians.
“Nigeria’s entire economy appears to have been sub-contracted to our central bank, including industrial and trade policy. In the process the economy has fared poorly and the bank has lost its independence. This is sad!
“@NGRPresident should leave @cenbank alone to discharge its mandate independently within the ambit of the CBN Act, and stop “directing” it. @cenbank should on its part assert its independence (assuming it actually believes it should be independent, but the Act says so, clearly!”, Moghalu said in a series of tweets.
Also commenting on the development, Johnson Chukwu, the Managing Director of Cowry Asset Management Limited, said the Nigerian President has no authority to direct the CBN Governor on monetary policy matters, despite the fact that he appointed him.
“I believe the ban is advisory in nature and not an order. The CBN is an independent body. The president can deploy fiscal tools to achieve what he wants. For instance, he can increase tariffs on food items just to make them commercially unattractive.
“Making certain pronouncements have immediate multiplier effects on the economy. Mr President’s pronouncement is not enforceable. It is advisory and that is how I see it”, he said.
President Buhari had on Tuesday directed the CBN to stop providing foreign exchange for importation of food into the country.