By Lawrence Olaoye
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has assured local and international investors not to worry about the recent judgement debt of $9 billion awarded against the country by a court in London, United Kingdom.
Emefiele, who was at the Presidential Villa to participate in a two-day retreat for newly appointed ministers at the Presidential Villa yesterday, also told the State House Correspondents that the Presidential directive that the CBN should stop issuing foreign exchange (Forex) for importation of food items into the country was in order.
A British court has ruled that an engineering and project management company, Process and Industrial Developments (P&ID) Ltd., has the right to seize $9bn in Nigerian assets last Friday.
The ruling delivered by Justice Butcher bordered on a 2010 contract Nigeria signed with P&ID, to the intent that the latter would build a state-of-the-art gas processing plant to refine natural gas (“wet gas”) into “lean gas” that Nigeria would receive free of charge to power its national electric grid.
Responding to the prospect of Nigeria losing so much to the judgement, Emefiele said he was not in the least scared by the ruling.
The CBN boss said the government had engaged its counsels on the matter just as he hinted on the possibility of the country filing a stay of execution suit and thereafter appeal the ruling.
He said, “I am not scared at all and I think it is also important that this question has come up. Since the news about the judgement broke out late on Friday, we have been discussing with our counsels, and they have advised that there are sufficient and strong grounds on the basis of which we could file a stay of execution and also an appeal against that judgement.
“There are certain anomalies in the process leading to the award of that contract which is currently being looked into by the EFCC and I believe that the EFCC themselves have their own investigation reports about that.
“So, we will follow through, and aggressively too, on ensuring that the execution of that judgement is stayed and that the appeal succeeds at every level both within Nigeria and abroad.
“It is important for me to use this opportunity to assure our friends, local and foreign investors who called to expresse solidarity with us, not to express concern but to say that there is no need for anybody to worry. We know that the implication of that judgement has some impact on monetary policy and that is why the CBN is going to step forward, and very strongly too, to ensure that we defend the country and defend the reserves of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
On how far the apex bank had gone on the implementation of the Presidential directive on restriction of forex to food importers, Emefiele said “Mr. President’s comment on the issuing of forex to people who import food items into the country, is in the logic of CBN’s management foreign exchange policies that we started since 2016.
“It is important for me to say that the attempt to misrepresent the comments of Mr. President is very unfair and unfortunate. But, what we will say from the CBN is that Mr. President has made this comment purely to strengthen the position of the CBN, to say that he believes in what the CBN has been doing since 2016 and there is need for us to reinforce that going forward.
“I will say that to be honest, we would aggressively go more into the list of items that are being imported into the country, items that can be produced in Nigeria.”
The CBN boss foreclosed the possibility of varying the directive insisting that allowing importation of food items that could be produced locally will be tantamount to exportation of jobs to other countries.
On the impact of the directive on Africa Free Trade Continental Area Agreement (AfCFTA) that Nigeria recently subscribed to, Emefiele said it won’t affect the agreement but added that the agreement was ongoing as the terms of engagement are still being discussed and negotiated.
