Experts fault CBN gov, insist N60bn printing not sustainable
A former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr Obadiah Mailafia, and a professor of Political Economy, Pat Utomi, have faulted the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele’s justification of printing money to support government.
Mailafia and Utomi, in separate interviews with The PUNCH on Sunday, stated that there was no basis for comparing what Nigeria did with a similar practice by other countries.
Although the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, Mr ‘Laoye Jaiyeola, in an interview with one of our correspondents, supported the CBN governor’s position on the printing of money, he warned that it was not sustainable.
He, therefore, urged government at all levels to generate revenues so that the country would not be printing money to support government every time.
Recall that the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, had on April 8 warned that the country was facing a serious economic problem, adding that the CBN printed N60bn which was added to what was shared at the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee by three levels of government in March.
But the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, in an interview with State House correspondents on Wednesday, described Obaseki’s claim as untrue.
Although Emefiele, in an interview with journalists at Tunga, Nasarawa State on Thursday did not admit that the apex bank printed N60bn in March for FAAC, he explained the practice of printing money for government to borrow.
He stated, “If you understand the concept of printing of money;, it’s about lending money.
“Most countries of the world today are confronted by not just the health crisis from the COVID-19 pandemic, but also economic crisis. I keep saying this: it would be irresponsible of the Central Bank of Nigeria or any central bank to stand idle and refuse to support its government at this time. Whatever we do in Nigeria is being done in any clime.”
Unlike advanced countries, Nigeria printing money to pay salaries – Mailafia
Reacting to Emefiele’s explanations, Mailafia, in an interview with one of our correspondents in Jos, insisted that there was no basis for comparing Nigeria’s printing more money to other countries’
He said Nigeria was printing money for the wrong reason unlike advanced countries who engaged in the act to save their economy.
Mailafia said, “Some people just understand it (printing of money) to mean that the central banks of those countries just printed money directly for consumption.
“That is not what they did. They did not print money to pay salaries of workers. The Japanese and other advanced countries which printed money did that to buy back securities from companies and financial institutions as a way of kick-starting their economies all over again by putting more money in the hands of these companies. Punch
