Emefiele exit will not impact market negatively—experts

The past president of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Okechukwu Unegbu and other financial experts have argued that the unexpected exit of the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele will not have any negative impact on both the capital and foreign exchange markets.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu suspended the Central Bank Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, from office with immediate effect on Friday, June 9th 2023.

Emefiele was directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the Deputy Governor (Operations Directorate), Mr. Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi, who will act as the Central Bank Governor pending the conclusion of the investigation and the reforms.

Reacting to the suspension, Unegbu said Emefiele’s removal will impact positively on the capital and the foreign exchange market because the multiple exchange rates maintained by Emefiele hurts the economy.

Corroborating Unegbu, Managing Director of Crane Securities Limited, Mr. Mike Eze, said the market will remain stable until the investigation concludes and provides sufficient information to inform market reactions.

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“The CBN is the highest financial institution in the country and the governor works with about three deputies who help him in fashioning out policies and most of these policies were hijacked by politicians. So, most of his policies were politically motivated.

He however noted that politicians are the ones that destabilise the economy, not Emefiele.

“The capital market does not react on hearsay, the market will have enough information before reacting, so, I believe the market will be stable until the outcome of the investigation,” he said.

The Executive Vice Chairman of Hicap Securities Limited Mr. David Adonri, said even though the secondary market benefited from Emefiele’s policies, the primary market did not.

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“We hope that his exit will bring a much-needed positive impact on the primary market and further boost the secondary market.”

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“However, if the multiple exchange rate regime run by Godwin Emefiele is discontinued and replaced by a single forex regime, that can assist the forex market to boom,” he said.

Meanwhile, a capital market expert, Prof. Uche Uwaleke, has said that the suspension Emefiele was long expected.

Uwaleke, a Professor of capital markets at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, stated that the suspension will mark an end to a turbulent era

He added that the CBN Ways and Means, which grew astronomically during his tenure also cast a dark spot on his legacy.

He, however, noted that Emefiele would be remembered for implementing big ideas such as the Anchor Borrower Programme, the RT200, the eNaira, and a raft of interventions that helped to stimulate the economy during periods of economic recession.