The Youth For Transparency Initiative has issued a statement making passionate call to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Godwin Emefiele, to contest for the 2023 Presidency.
The statement issued on Sunday in Kaduna, by its President, Koko Umar, said the CBN governor is one of the outstanding Nigerians who have demonstrated competence and capacity in public service and should be trusted with the leadership of the country. The group said, as the governor of the CBN, Emefiele has made tremendous achievements that qualifies him to run for the presidency in 2023.
The statement said, “One of the great Nigerians who have contributed to the development of country is the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Godwin Emefiele.”
It maintained that, since his appointment as CBN governor in 2014, he has been relentless in building a strong financial system to strengthen the nation’s economy.
“His unrelenting efforts at the apex bank has helped to navigate the Nigerian economy through turbulent economic challenges to growth and inclusiveness in policy development and implementation.
“Under Emefiele the (CBN) is more people focused, as its policies and programmes are tailored towards supporting small businesses and job creation.
“Under his leadership, the CBN introduced various interventions, which aimed at growing the economy, job creation and lifting people out of poverty.
“Under him, the CBN introduced 37 intervention funds targeted at stimulating the economy and addressing the issue of unemployment.
“Through the development finance initiatives, the Bank granted N756.51 billion to 3,734,938 small holder farmers of which N120.24 billion was extended for the 2021 Wet Season to 627,051 farmers under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP)”, the group enumerated.
According to Umar, this, have revolutionised rice production in Nigeria, saving the country from spend over N356b annually on rice importation which had hitherto affected local production negatively.
The statement said, “The rice pyramid recently showcased in Abuja is a prove that we have broken the chains of rice importation.”
The statement further noted Emefiele’s achievements in implementation of
the National Youth Investment Fund (NYIF), in which the CBN released N3.0 billion to 7,057 beneficiaries, of which 4,411 were individuals and 2,646 SMEs.
“In the creative industry, N3.22 billion was disbursed to 356 beneficiaries across movie production, movie distribution, software development, fashion, and IT verticals, under the Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI)
“Also the CBN under the N1.0 trillion Real Sector Facility, released N923.41 billion to 251 real sector projects, of which 87 were in light manufacturing, 40 in agro based industry, 32 in services and 11 in mining.
In the health sector the CBN disbursed N98.41 billion for 103 health projects under the bank’s Healthcare Sector Intervention Facility (HSIF).
“These are just a few of the many achievements recorded by Emefiele the past seven years at the apex bank.
“His significant support for the Nigerian economy through the use of intervention funds to boost growth is laudable.
“He has proven himself to be a diligent and determined public servant whose track records will remain indelible in history.
“It is for this that the YOUTH FOR TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE, wish to passionately appeal to Emefiele to contest for the 2023 Presidency”.
The group appealed to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) present the best candidate for the 2023 Presidency, stressing that “Emefiele is the best because he has demonstrated competence and capacity that qualifies him to be the President of Nigeria.
“Nigeria needs a technocrat
who is verse in global economic issues.”
