Presidency, Atiku on collision course over CBN forex policy

The Presidency on Sunday accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of spewing lies about President Bola Tinubu administration’s economic policies.

The Presidency specifically said Atiku failed to prescribe a better policy option to what the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, and his team are offering at the apex bank.

Atiku had attacked the forex policy of the Tinubu administration, saying it failed because it was hurriedly put together without any consultation with relevant stakeholders.

But the presidency in a statement titled, “Once again, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar got it wrong, signed by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, said it was false and preposterous for Atiku to claim that CBN’s FX management policy was hurriedly put together without proper plans and consultations.

The statement read, “Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, in an attempt to rubbish the foreign exchange policy of the Tinubu administration, got his facts muddled up again.

“He also failed to prescribe a better policy option to what Governor Olayemi Cardoso and his team are executing at the apex bank.

CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso

“First of all, it was not true that President Tinubu’s meeting last Thursday with the 36 state governors was centred on discussing foreign exchange crisis and currency fluctuation.

“What was discussed in the main was food supply and how to drastically reduce food prices. The Minister of Information, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, gave a briefing about the meeting, revealing the highlights to State House correspondents.

“One was that the meeting established a nexus between the state of security and the rising cost of food. Another was that hoarders are warehousing food, creating artificial scarcity and thus enabling the high cost of food items.”

According to the statement, the decisions at the meeting reflected the main points discussed: Forest rangers are to be strengthened and armed, while police are to recruit more men and the National Economic Council to deepen discussions about creating state police.

It added that President Tinubu affirmed his approval for the release of 42,000 metric tonnes of grains from the national reserve.

“Government is also in discussion with rice millers to get another 60,000 metric tonnes. President Tinubu said he does not support price control and importation of food. Nigeria, he believes, can grow enough food to feed its citizens and spare some for export,” it said.

Continuing, the presidency said, “The present government is executing the cultivation of 500,000 hectares for wheat, maize, and rice, in many states. Governors are expected to participate in this programme, one of the reasons for last Thursday’s meeting.

“There was no deliberation as former VP Atiku claimed on currency fluctuation. As Alhaji Atiku should know, this is the business of the Central Bank, which has the autonomy to handle the country’s monetary policies.

“As a matter of fact, the President enjoined the governors, in passing, to allow the CBN do its work and refrain from dabbling into what is within CBN’s purview.

“If he would be true to himself and what actually transpired at the meeting, unlike the lies he spewed, we expected Alhaji Atiku to praise President Tinubu for maintaining this stance and for not interfering with the business of Central Bank.

“It is false and preposterous for Atiku to claim that CBN’s FX management policy was hurriedly put together without proper plans and consultations with stakeholders and that the apex bank is hamstrung by Tinubu’s government in implementing a sound FX Management Policy ‘that would have dealt with such issues as increasing liquidity, curtailing/regulating demand, dealing with FX backlogs and rate convergence’”.