The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has set up a six-member committee to engage the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to address anomalies in the country’s monetary management and financial system.
The forum disclosed this in a communique issued on Saturday at the end of its virtual meeting held with the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, on Thursday night.
The committee, according to the communique signed by the NGF Chairman, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto, is chaired by the Governor of Anambra State, Charles Soludo, with governors of Akwa Ibom, Ogun, Borno, Plateau and Jigawa states as members.
The governors said that while they were not opposed to the objectives of the naira redesign policy, the apex bank should consider the peculiarities of households and states, especially pertaining to financial inclusion and under-served locations.
“We, the members of the NGF, received a briefing from the Governor of the CBN, Emefiele, on the Naira redesign, its economic and security implications including the new withdrawal policy.
“Governors are not opposed to the objectives of the Naira redesign policy.
“However, we observe that there are huge challenges that remain problematic to the Nigerian populace.
“In the circumstances, governors expressed the need for the CBN to consider the peculiarities of states especially as they pertained to financial inclusion and under-served locations,” the governors said.
The governors resolved to work closely with the CBN to ameliorate areas that required policy variation, particularly poor households, the vulnerable and several others that were excluded.
The governors also resolved to collaborate with the CBN and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) in advancing objectives within the confines of the laws.
However, they maintained that the recent advisory and guidelines by the NFIU on cash transactions were outside the NFIU’s legal remit and mandate.
(NAN)