Buhari, Emefiele Lands In Big Trouble For Using Foreign Reserve As Collateral For Loans
Nigerians on X, formerly known as Twitter have called for the immediate prosecution and imprisonment of former President Muhammadu Buhari and the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), Godwin Emefiele for allegedly using the country’s foreign reserve as collateral for loans.
It reported on Friday that the Central Bank of Nigeria said it owed some foreign banks and two US-based companies, The Goldman Sachs Group and JPMorgan Chase & Co. a sum of $13.8 billion, equating to about N10.6 trillion.
CBN made this known in its audited financial statement on Friday via its website.
According to the statement, the apex bank owes JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs a combined $7.5 billion as of the financial year ended December 2022.
It added that the bank owes Goldman Sachs $500 million and JP Morgan $7 billion in securities lending.
The bank said that it entered into a securities lending agreement with Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan and as part of the agreement, pledged holdings on foreign securities in return for cash.
BusinessDay however reported that the CBN’s debt to some foreign banks may cost Nigeria 40.7 percent of its entire foreign reserves currently standing at $34.1 billion.
BusinessDay’s calculations showed an ability to meet the above obligations due to FX shortages might cost Nigeria 40.7 percent of its $34.1billion foreign reserves.
Experts who spoke to BusinessDay said the above development has caused distrust about Nigeria’s current external reserves despite the CBN delivering a much-needed reform in floating the currency in June.
“Senior treasury officials from banks and portfolio managers are telling me that they don’t trust the numbers the CBN is stating as the official foreign reserves position,” Kelvin Emmanuel, CEO at Dairy Hills Ltd said.
“And they believe that this is contributing to the apex bank’s inability to clear FX backlogs up to date,” he added.
Reacting to this development, a financial analyst, Kalu Aja via his verified Twitter page blamed the country’s federal lawmakers for their failure to provide oversight functions that would have stopped Buhari and Emefiele from taking the loan.
Spent on what? Defending the Naira
Why did the Naira need defending? Because it was weak I.e. $1: N469
Why was the Naira weak? Many reasons but a big reason was the CBN printed N23t for Buhari to spend at will without…
— Kalu Aja (@FinPlanKaluAja1) August 11, 2023
He said, “Who own fx reserves? CBN Who spent fx reserves? CBN Spent on what? Defending the Naira. Why did the Naira need defending? Because it was weak I.e. $1: N469. Why was the Naira weak? Many reasons but a big reason was the CBN printed N23t for Buhari to spend at will without oversight. Who should have provided oversight on the printing of N23t? “Well National Assembly and Debt Management Office. So the CBN printed N23t, that made the Naira lose value, then same CBN used foreign reserves to prop up the Naira they were weakening? Yes. Will anyone go to jail? Depends” Another user, Serah Ibrahim, said Prof Yemi Osinbanjo who served as the head of the National Economic Council during Buhari’s regime should not be exonerated from the mess.
Osinbajo is the biggest ghost worker in history. We cannot blame Emefiele for his economic blunders without also blaming Buhari and the BDSM ghost worker of Aso Rock. Osinbajo was the head of NEC but claims his hands were always tied as the BDSM performer that he is but stood by… pic.twitter.com/akNIrLxETE — SERAH IBRAHIM (@TheSerahIbrahim) August 12, 2023
He said, “Osinbajo is the biggest ghost worker in history. We cannot blame Emefiele for his economic blunders without also blaming Buhari and the BDSM ghost worker of Aso Rock. Osinbajo was the head of NEC but claims his hands were always tied as the BDSM performer that he is but stood by and watched Emefiele take loans from 2 US Banks SECRETLY and used Nigeria’s foreign reserve as collateral.
“How can CBN borrow $13.8 BILLION from US Banks and then use Nigeria’s foreign reserve as a COLLATERAL. They have sold this country and completely destroyed our economy ON PURPOSE. They also secretly printed ₦32 trillion.
“Emiefele did not act alone, everything was done under instructions from Buhari.
“You cannot arrest Emiefele and allow Buhari and BDSM Ghost Worker to roam free.
“Buhari and Osinbajo should also be arrested for this economic sabotage.
“We are in deep trouble in Nigeria.”
Another user, Nefertiti also said, “Obasanjo grew your Foreign Reserve from $5.4B to $51.3B. He cleared your debts as well. Buhari has sank Nigeria back in 13.8B debt. Bubu & Emefiele took loans from US banks using Nigeria’s Foreign Reserve as collateral. CBN printed N32T in Ways & Means. WHERE ARE THESE MONIES?
Obasanjo grew your Foreign Reserve from $5.4B to $51.3B. He cleared your debts as well. Buhari has sank Nigeria back in 13.8B debt. Bubu & Emefiele took loans from US banks using Nigeria’s Foreign Reserve as collateral. CBN printed N32T in Ways & Means. WHERE ARE THESE MONIES?…
— NEFERTITI (@firstladyship) August 12, 2023
“When you read that CBN’s Audited Report, you will weep for Nigeria. Buhari had no business managing a kiosk, much less an LGA. The damage APC did to Nigeria will take more than 30 years to cleanup. CBN did not publish any audited report in 8 years.”
