The Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, is probably the most talked about personality in circle of Nigerian economics recently. And most of these discussions are not for positive reasons. Ranging from the back-and-forth nature of the CBN’s policies to the abysmal performance of the Naira, Emefiele has been the target of varied criticisms.
The CBN Governor, though, has given his own responses to why he believes neither the CBN nor himself in particular, should be blamed for the poor indices of the nation’s economy. He has given several reasons why the recession Nigeria is currently experiencing is your fault and not his.
The latest reason the CBN boss gave at his lecture entitled “Managing Monetary Policy in Turbulent Time,” is education, more precisely, foreign education. According to Emefiele, Nigerians spend a minimum of £2 billion on giving their children foreign education each year, National Mirror reports.
According to him, this is another reason why the country is experiencing forex scarcity as well as why the educational sector is not developing well enough. Of course, the forex scarcity is to be blamed for the free fall of the Naira. Hence, Nigerians, whose children study abroad have contributed to the recession.
Whether this new chapter in the series of excuses Emefiele is giving for Nigeria’s current economic problems will fly or not is not yet known. What is sure, though, is that the cycle will continue. People blame the government; government blames the people, the people continue to suffer.