Emefiele And The Burden Of Karma –By Femi Amosun

Karma, in Hinduism, “is the relationship between a person’s mental or physical action and the consequences following that action. It also signifies the consequences of all the actions of a person in their current and previous lives and the chain of cause and effect in morality”.

This writer is probably one of the few Nigerians who called for the immediate arrest of Godwin Emefiele and other CBN Senior management team as a punishment for their engrossment in economic sabotage www.opinionnigeria.com/naira-redesign-policy-and-the-economic-implications-by-femi-amosun/

This writer has also been exonerated for stating that Mr. Emefiele is a mere political Appointee and NOT an elected Public official. So when Mr. Emefiele was finally arrested, like a common criminal, by the Department of State Service (DSS) many Nigerians celebrated (and rightly so) his substantial fall from his self-styled “elegance” and empty “sophistication”.

Mr. Emefiele’s lack of professionalism is far beyond the conventional wisdom. A CBN Governor who became spiteful about the amount of money people kept in their Domiciliary accounts and even attempted to raid people’s Dormant accounts. At the height of #EndSARS, a social movement and mass protests against police brutality in our country, Mr. Emefiele crudely weaponized the instrument of the Central Bank of Nigeria and froze all bank accounts of leading organizers of that Protest. Where in the World would a governor of a Central Bank act in such a despicable and crude manner? Through the Naira Redesign policy, he inflicted highly extreme pain and hardships on fellow Nigerians. In the end, his policies exposed him as an economic illiterate who failed to separate Fiscal (Monetary) policy (i.e.; CBN primary role) from Macroeconomic policy.

The conventional wisdom dictates that Macroeconomics is about the total sum of economic activity, dealing with issues of growth, inflation and unemployment. In tackling these issues, Fiscal policy may be considered to drive growth and control inflation. This has direct implications for Microeconomics. The whole essence here is how the micro segments of the economy tend to make economic decisions, i.e.; the purchasing power parity and the propensity to consume goods and services. Furthermore, as the CBN Governor he woefully failed to understand the basics, that is, the demand for many products in our country is markedly ‘income elastic’ meaning where the demand changes significantly with changes in income and in disposable purchasing power. Why is it so difficult to understand that sound fiscal policy and macroeconomic policy determines the general well-being of a country? An understanding of this basic economic principle would have helped the CBN to implement seamless Naira Redesign Policy.

At the terminal height of his arrogance, Mr. Emefiele openly stated that “Nigerians can go ahead and have heart attack” The pivotal question to ask is who exactly is this deluded guy working for?

It is very unpalatable to attempt to twist the whole Emefiele saga, specifically whether the President has the power to suspend Godwin Emefiele. By failing to conduct himself in Office, the erstwhile CBN governor spectacularly inflicted terminal damage to the economy and weaponized his position as Governor of the CBN to implement anti people policies. Such delusional, pompous, and noxious individuals shouldn’t have been allowed to occupy any important Office in our country. Would they rather see Nigerians continue to suffer or remove toxic public official(s) who have willfully damaged our country?

We should also highlight the perilous situation whereby there is too much interference in citizen’s lives. If it not CBN or Banks implementing anti people policies, it is NNPC hiking fuel prices or Passport agency activating scarcity and intimidating their fellow Nigerian citizens or other government agencies acting like authoritarians. The sole essence of all these organizations should be to offer and deliver quality service to make life better for customers or service users. This is the educated understanding anywhere in the World. It is also imperative to note that for a number of years, the Central Bank of Nigeria consistently control our lives; forceful NIN and linked to individual bank Accounts, exorbitant fees; sudden and forceful introduction of new Naira notes; scarcity of Naira notes; banking irregularities etcetera. We know that the role of a Central Bank is not about economic management (i.e., trade and industry, revenue-generating activities, profitability) but purely monetary control and “Lender of last resort”.

Finally, Godwin Emefiele has been compelled to understand the basic fact of life, the World doesn’t revolve around an individual but rather evolves around collective sense of purpose. It is also evident that leading nations of the World are successful not because of Individual personalities, but largely due to national orientation centred around collective responsibility in the national interest.

The Emefiele palaver, therefore, exemplifies the main reason why Nigerians are suffering while the government consistently fail to address the root causes. Once you clean up the critical sectors of the economy and social aspect, Nigerians will see marked improvement and start to benefit from better quality of life.

In order to take the new Administration of Bola Tinubu serious, the government must ensure that Mr. Godwin Emefiele is suspended without Pay and fully prosecuted for all the economic and financial crimes he may have willfully and maliciously committed. This will send a strong signal to other public officials who are making life more difficult for many Nigerians. These vile public officials need to understand their primary purpose and the obligations of their “Office” just as it’s done in other countries of the World.

Femi Amosun is a management expert and renowned business adviser with well-grounded training in strategic management and finance. He also holds commendable expertise and corresponding technical know-how in Startup. His breadth of knowledge and experience attest to distinctive flair for sustainable development through responsible governance and accountability. He can be reached by email at abs.amosun@gmail.com