Prof. Wole Soyinka has criticised the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, for the controversial naira redesign policy that resulted in a nationwide cash crunch.
Speaking in an interview with Channels TV on Monday, the Noble laureate said Emefiele “committed a crime against humanity”.
The CBN introduced redesigned N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes in October 2022 to control the money supply and aid security agencies in tackling illicit financial flows.
The redesigned naira notes were unveiled by President Muhammadu Buhari on December 23, 2022.
The deadline for the phasing out of the old notes was fixed for January 31, 2023, but it was later extended to February 10.
The policy resulted in a scarcity of cash in the country, causing hardship for many Nigerians until the Supreme Court, in its March 3 judgment on a suit by some state governments challenging the implementation of the policy, further extended the expiration of the old notes till December 31, 2023.
“Emefiele has committed a crime against humanity, over and beyond even any electoral mago mago (foul play),” Soyinka said.
“He struck at the heart of the subsisting survival principles, minimal needs and entitlements of the ordinary people in the street.
“You can’t buy a newspaper. You can’t buy guguru [popcorn] and epa [groundnuts], which means that you cannot pay for the plantain; which means that the farmer cannot even pay for transportation of the goods from his farm to the markets.”
Not exonerating President Buhari from the blame, he added: “He and his boss, Buhari, because ultimately the responsibility rests with him [Buhari] to have allowed this to happen. But he [Emefiele] is the expert. He’s the one who gives the advice, he’s the one who executes the policies.”
