Cardoso to Nigerians: Economic woes not our fault

Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says he and his team are not responsible for the current economic woes in the country.

Cardoso spoke on Tuesday while answering questions from journalists at the monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting.

This is the first MPC meeting held since he assumed office in September 2023.

The CBN governor said the current management of the apex bank took over responsibility during a period of crisis of confidence.

He said CBN is taking the necessary steps to get the country’s fiscal and monetary health back to normal and efforts made are beginning to yield results.

“I think it is very important for Nigerians to understand that the central bank governor; I and my team, are not responsible for the woes that we have today; we are part of the solution,” Cardoso said.

“We are determined to ensure that we work hard to get out of the mess that Nigeria is in. We assumed responsibility in a time of crisis of confidence; there was a crisis of confidence and you may all want to go to bed and wish that crisis of confidence was not there but it was, and we can’t turn back the clock.

“All we can do is do the difficult things to make a bad situation better and I do believe that the efforts that we are making are beginning to bring back confidence because, to be frank, without confidence in your business, you are not going to get far.”

He also assured the management team would continue to work hard and ensure transparency and openness as much as possible in every decision taken.