‘Printing of currency is part of CBN’s lending to govt,’ Emefiele wades into minister, gov Obaseki’s dispute

The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, on Thursday countered the statement credited to the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, on the raging controversy over the printing of currency the Federal Government.

Ahmed had dismissed claims by the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, that the federal government printed between N50 billion and N60 billion shared to the states as allocation from the Federation Account in March.

The minister, who dismissed the claim in a statement, said the funds shared to the states were generated by the government agencies.

She said: “What we distribute at FAAC is revenue that is generated and in fact distribution of revenue is public information. We publish revenue generated by FIRS, the customs, and the NNPC and we distribute at FAAC.

“So, it is not true to say we printed money to distribute at FAAC, it is not true.”

However, in a chat with the Chief Executive of Frontier Africa Reports, Boasan Omofaye, the CBN governor said printing of currency to support the federal and state governments financially was part of CBN lending to the government.

He said the state governments have not repaid the bailouts received from the federal government in 2016.