CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, having an unpalatable fun with the media.

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi explaining why ethno-religious group should be banned.

The Governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank has for sometime now, been enjoying a wave of fun from the media through his numerous anti-social and nation-breaking statements. Before his recent utterance, he publicly asked that 50% of civil servants in the country be sacked since according to him, they are the cause of the increased and unproductive yearly budget of the government. Nigerians within and outside, as well as other interest groups in the country called for his immediate removal and possible sanctioning. He pleaded by stylishly claiming he never made such a statement, that the media misinterpreted him. We all thought that was going to be the end of his careless and uncontrolled statements, but we thought wrong. To him, that statement was an elevation to Nigerians in general and those concerned in particular. Today, he has yet released another jaw breaking statement on religious bodies in the country.

He called for the immediate ban of all ethno-religious organisations in the country, using CAN as a signpost to others. For a moment a part of me wanted to reason with him, wanting to believe the call was attractive, but on the other hand, i felt his call was stupid and senseless. Whether or not ethno-religious organisations in the country are banned, it will in no way reduce interest rate or better the nation’s economy or provide jobs for the teeming jobless youths.

Rather than lay blames for the nation’s political and socio-economic woes at the doorsteps of religious associations, the inability of the government to address the fundamental issues of development should be seen as responsible for the precarious situation facing the nation today. Not all regional or religious fora are divisive as wrongly posited by Mr Sanusi. There are overlapping interests and countervailing forces that tends to reinforce the unity of the country, in fact, if a body is to be banned, it should be that which the CBN governor belong to. Instances in the country has shown which religious body has been a heavy weight pulling down the nation.

With the way Mr Sanusi is going, i think its important that no one takes him serious any longer, because if he is wise and properly educated as presumed, he do know that its in their place according to the order of things, to inspire national solidarity that comes with relative pluralism, and not cloistered particularism. But for religious fora in the country today, things would have gotten worst than it already is. It is much easier to use such fora and bring the people together in order to enable them unleash their synergy by living up to their collective challenges for both individual and public good, as against allowing the attitude of ‘To your tents O Israel!’ to prevail and inspire ethnic nationalism that is unhelpful.

As rightly stated by the Vice President of the National Labour Congress, NLC, Issa Aremu, these non-state organisations are certainly not the problem. The problem lies in the failure of legitimate state institutions to deliver on their promises, namely – PHCN yet to deliver on uninterrupted power, Ministry of Trade and Investment with all its efforts still presides over factory closures (industrial mortuary and smuggling).

There are as well, the CBN, whose monetary and fiscal policies due to the inefficiency of the governor and his unplanned policies, are not yet industry-friendly. Nigerian Custom Service that still turns the nation’s borders to smuggling zones, and Immigration Services that hawks expatriate quotas to terrorists. With all these, tell me how the so-called ethno-religious organisations are the cause of the nation’s problem? The issue is for all state actors to deliver on promises and get reactionary non-state actors out of business, as well as state officials stopping the patronisation of non-inclusive institutions.

If Mr Sanusi is tired of looking into the affairs of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and wants to venture into third-party matters, he should try to figure out how the above mentioned issues can be handled.