In his reaction to the dethronement of the former Kano Emir
and fellow ex-banker, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the founder of Stanbic IBTC
Bank Plc, Atedo Peterside, has declined participation at a roundtable
session organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Mr. Peterside,
who was invited as a panelist at the event scheduled to hold on
Wednesday, described the removal and banishment of the former monarch as
an abuse of power and constitutional provisions.
In his letter
to the governor of the apex bank, Godwin Emefiele, Mr Peterside said as
long as Nigeria flouts her own laws and tramples on people’s rights,
investments in the nation’s economy will continue to nosedive.
While
also warning of the likelihood of Nigeria’s return to another round of
economic recession, the entrepreneur said the right policies are
currently not in place to avert the impending crisis.
He said,
though he is presently in London after participating at the Commonwealth
Service on Monday, he could afford to fly back to Nigeria, but he had
decided to stay away from the meeting in protest against the action of
the Kano State government and because he saw no point joining in the
discussion at a time like this.
He wrote; “The theme for your
Roundtable Session is ‘Going for Growth.’ Rapid growth is only achieved
on the back of significant investment activity. Going for growth should
therefore be a holistic concept that embraces the sum total of actions
and activities that we need to encourage in order to boost investor
confidence, including respect of individual freedoms and the rule of
law.
“Sadly, yesterday’s events have turned back the clock at a
time when our economy is at a precipice and when we need to tell
ourselves some home truths and speak truth to power in a constructive
manner.”
Mr. Peterside’s statement is reproduced below:
Dear Governor Emefiele,
CBN Consultative Roundtable: A Conscientious Objection
————————————————————————–
I
received an Invitation, at short notice, to be a panelist at a CBN
Consultative Roundtable Session taking place in Abuja tomorrow. Whilst
thanking you for the Invitation, I believe the correct thing for me to
do is to respectfully decline to participate.
It is true that I
am currently out of the country, but it is also true that I could have
reorganised my activities and flown into Abuja in time to join you
tomorrow morning. My refusal to join you has more to do with the
monumental events that took place yesterday viz the removal of the Emir
of Kano from office and the release of information that purportedly
seeks to exile him and restrict his movements or confine them to a
little known enclave in Nassarawa State.
My wife and I were
invited to the Commonwealth Service that held in Westminster Abbey in
London yesterday and so we witnessed a colourful ceremony which included
speeches by a variety of personalities, including Anthony Joshua, the
Nigerian-British heavyweight boxing champion. Anthony Joshua and other
speakers yesterday reminded us eloquently about what can go right when
we embrace the forces of modernity whilst recognising and upholding our
proud cultural heritage. At the exact same time, I was distracted by
disturbing news from Kano yesterday which confirmed what can go wrong,
when those in authority pay lip service to the Nigerian Constitution and
then proceed to violate the fundamental freedoms that it guarantees
each individual because they prefer to cling to practices like exile
which they learnt from colonial masters and the military. These
practices have no place in a democratic dispensation.
The theme
for your Roundtable Session is Going for Growth. Rapid growth is only
achieved on the back of significant investment activity. Going for
growth should therefore be a holistic concept that embraces the sum
total of actions and activities that we need to encourage in order to
boost investor confidence, including respect of individual freedoms and
the rule of law. Sadly, yesterday’s events have turned back the clock at
a time when our economy is at a precipice and when we need to tell
ourselves some home truths and speak truth to power in a constructive
manner.
By coincidence, the Ex-Emir of Kano is your predecessor
in office at CBN. Ordinarily, he qualifies to be invited for tomorrow’s
event. Did you invite him?
I have decided to stay away from your
Consultative Roundtable and to instead use the opportunity of this
letter to draw the attention of a wider audience to my displeasure with
the events of yesterday. Please forgive me because I am in no mood to
immediately pretend as if all is well by proceeding with business as
usual.
At an appropriate time, I will send you my thoughts on how
to quickly eliminate the policy inconsistencies that threaten the
stability of our macroeconomy as CBN continues to seek to defy the odds
by simultaneously pursuing a low domestic interest rate regime which
clearly cannot coexist with high inflation and naira exchange rate
stability in the face of collapsed/collapsing oil prices and an
insatiable and uncontrolled appetite for foreign currency loans. This
unsustainable policy mix has spooked investors (local and foreign),
thereby making it increasingly likely that the Nigerian economy slides
back into a recession, unless you quickly embark on some course
corrections.
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