According to Jim Obazee, Special Investigator on the Central Bank of Nigeria and Related Entities, former President Muhammadu Buhari did not specifically approve of the most recent redesign of the naira.
Obazee had learned that Sabiu Tunde “Yusuf,” Buhari’s assistant, had given the go-ahead.
This was included in the investigator’s final report, which President Bola Tinubu received on Wednesday and was titled “Report of the Special Investigation on CBN and Related Entities (Chargeable Offences)”.
Remember that in a letter dated July 28, 2023, which The PUNCH was able to view, Tinubu nominated Obazee, a former Executive Secretary of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, as the CBN special investigator.
The investigation showed that Sabiu and the troubled former governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, were responsible for implementing the naira
According to The PUNCH, Emefiele, who is being detained at Kuje Custodial Center, is facing charges of procurement fraud totaling N1.2 billion.
The N300 million bail that the Federal Capital Territory’s High Court granted him on November 22, 2023, has not been perfected by him.
Nonetheless, our correspondent received documents on Thursday that suggested the previous governor of the national bank would be charged with more crimes in relation to how the CBN naira redesign strategy was handled.
Emefiele could be “prosecuted for illegal issuance of currency under Section 19 of the CBN Act alongside Tunde Sabiu and the 12 top directors of the CBN.”
According to information obtained, Buhari was persuaded to adopt the naira redesign policy by Sabiu, and the effort was carried out without the CBN board’s consent.
The investigation discovered that Buhari disapproved of the redesign of the naira. In September 2022, Tunde Sabiu was the one who initially advised Emefiele to take the naira’s redesign into consideration.
“On October 6, 2022, Emefiele wrote to Buhari that he wanted to redesign and reconfigure the N1000, N500, and N200 notes.
“The former president tagged along but did not approve the redesign as required by law. Buhari merely approved that the currency be printed in Nigeria. The redesign was only mentioned to the board of the CBN on December 15, 2022, after Emefiele had awarded the contract to Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc on October 31, 2022,’’ the documents noted.
According to reports, Emefiele hired De La Rue of the UK to redesign the naira for £205,000, with approval from the Director of the Currency Operations Department. This decision was made when Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc said it was unable to complete the project on time.
It further showed that “the special investigator found that N61.5bn was earmarked for the printing of the new notes, out of which N31.79bn had been paid.
“As of August 9, 2023, findings revealed that N769bn of the new notes were in circulation.
“The probe of the CBN also revealed the fraudulent use of N26.627tn Ways and Means of the Apex Bank as well as the misuse of the COVID-19 intervention fund.
“For instance, the CBN under Emefiele at its 661st meeting held on October 27, 2020, approved that the Consolidated Revenue Fund Account should be debited with the sum of N124.860bn, and the decision was implemented on October 9.
“Similarly, the Committee of Governors, at its 670th meeting held on December 9, 2020, granted ‘anticipatory approval’ pending receipt of a formal request by Mr President and ratification by the board of directors for the payment of the sum of N250bn only to the Federal Government of Nigeria to address challenges as a result of low revenue inflow and the payment of salaries.
The CBN investigator found evidence of misuse of CBN Ways and Means under the Buhari presidency.
According to the Gistlover report, the government may borrow from the top bank under the CBN Act’s Ways and Means section if it need short-term or emergency financing to cover fiscal deficits or delayed government expected financial receipts.
