The former Chancellor of Bowen University and Pioneer, Aso Villa Chapel Chaplain, Prof Yusuf Obaje, has assessed the policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and described them as failures in the pursuit to eliminate poverty. According to Obaje, the apex bank’s policies have done nothing to fight poverty but were rather anti-people in nature.
Obaje stated this while speaking in Abuja at the National Economic Summit organised by the Coalition of Civil Society Groups (CCSG) tagged; ‘Sustainable Policy Participation strategy in the Face of Economic Recession.’
Obaje, not only rated the policies as failures but also gave reasons why the policies would never work for Nigeria’s good. According to him, the apex bank had failed to look inwards to fashion out policies that are in line with the Nigerian situation.
“Most of the policies formulated were not in touch with the reality of the Nigerian people. The policies did not even come out of our own intellectual engine room, they are all borrowed ideas…Any borrowed ideology that is not in conformity with the reality is bound to create suffering. Idea must find its root in the soil of the particular people it is meant for,” he said.
He then campaigned for the formulation of a national ideology which would guide the activities of the policy makers of the country and become a foundation for future actions. “National ideology is a priority for our economic emancipation. Every human behavior is rooted in ideology; our lives are controlled by idea.” Obaje said.
