Godwin Emefiele, the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, who punished Nigerians with a draconian regime of currency scarcity, has been suspended from office.
His suspension was ordered by President Tinubu.
The suspension took immediate effect, according to a statement by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
According to the statement, the suspension comes amid an ongoing investigation of Emefiele’s office and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy.
Mr Emefiele has been directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the Deputy Governor (Operations Directorate).
The official, Mr. Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi will act as the Central Bank Governor pending the conclusion of investigation and the reforms.
As CBN governor, Emefiele ran multiple exchange rates that allowed arbitrage, at a margin never experienced in Nigeria before.
Late last year, he introduced new currencies and mopped up about N3.3 trillion from the economy.
He only made available about N800 billion, leading to shortage of currency and a contraction of the economy in the first quarter of 2023.
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