Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emiefele has assured that the apex bank will not be used to frustrate the forthcoming general elections.
Emiefele, who spoke when the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof Mahmood Yakubu led 11 National Commissioners on a visit to the Bank, said the CBN will make available every cash needed to pay logistics for the success of the elections.
He was responding to a request from Yakubu that the CBN should find a way of addressing scarcity of currency across the country 17 days to the Presidential and National Assembly elections since some service providers to the commission were “unbanned”.
He said: “The CBN will not allow itself to be used as agents to frustrate the forthcoming election which is a positive assignment.
“If you require cash to pay some of your service providers, we will make it available to you. We will not allow ourselves to be seen as agents that frustrate a genuine assignment”.
The INEC chairman had told the CBN Governor the 2023 polls will be the best in Nigeria’s history, adding that concerns have however been raised about the processes leading to the elections.
He said while the Commission has transfered all its accounts at the state and national level to the apex bank, some of the services being rendered to the Commission need to be paid for in cash.
