By
Citizen Bolaji O. Akinyemi
Mr. President,
I have in recent times chosen to dignify the citizenship of our country by adopting the simple title Citizen. This is deliberate—to help you and my readers avoid the confusion of identity often tied to my name. Make no mistake: I am not the erudite Professor Akinwande Bolaji Akinyemi, the respected scholar, former DG of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, and former Minister of Foreign Affairs. In his presence, Omoluabi like myself will dobale as you too would do for democracy—until he asks me to rise and take a seat.
My name is Bolaji Oluwayanmife Akinyemi, a very proud citizen of the most blessed nation on earth: Nigeria.
The Economy of Votes
In my earlier article, The Cardinal Failure of Cardoso, under the subtitle The Economy of Votes, I sounded the alarm: “Mr. President, take note. Between now and 2027, Nigerians will not judge performance by speeches or digital campaigns. They will judge it by the cost of food, the value of the naira, and the feeling in their stomachs. The fuel of reelection is not rhetoric—it is stomach infrastructure, economic delivery, and policy clarity.”
Performance, not slogan wrapped in propaganda, will determine 2027. If you must survive the wave of anti-establishment sentiments, your only winning strategy is clear economic results. That is why a cabinet reshuffle by October 1st is not optional—it is imperative. After two years, a CBN governor and ministers who haven’t been able to shift Nigeria’s economic tide has no business in office beyond Independence Day. The next 18 months are too critical to gamble away.
October 1st: Day of Decision
October 1st is not only our Independence Day; it is a day to redefine leadership. Nigerians are tired, investors are nervous, and the poor are hungry. Fail to act, and you risk stumbling blindly into the same electoral defeat that consumed Goodluck Jonathan in 2015—delivered by the same economy of votes.
The choice before you is stark: Reshuffle or Retrench? Reform or Regret? Scale or Stumble?
That day, I will openly review your performance in the critical areas of Security, Education, and Agriculture (SEA)—a simple three-point agenda. Like Prophet Elisha on Mount Carmel, I will ask the house of Nigeria: How long shall you dwell between two opinions? If Tinubu delivers, stay with him; if not, move on.
Cardoso and the CBN: A Burden Too Heavy
Now to the helms brother at the Central Bank; Governor Olayemi Cardoso has not only sustained but deepened the detachment of the CBN from Nigeria’s realities. His policy choices reveal a dangerous mismatch between borrowed models and lived conditions. The increase of intervention lending rates from 9% to 15%—at a time when over 40% of MSMEs have collapsed under high capital costs—is not just a misstep; it is economic malpractice.
Worse, revelations from the Bank of Industry (BOI) now expose how damaging the CBN’s interference has become. The BOI, once the engine of inclusive growth, is being reduced to a subordinate cash warehouse for the CBN.
The BOI Interference Questions
The regulatory role of the CBN in financial markets should aim to provide steady stream of flow of adequate, affordable and stable finance to sustain economic growth; it is regrettable that the observed case of CBN is one that slips into interference. Neither does autonomy mean autocracy. Three questions demand urgent answers:
1. Why is BOI unable to fulfil its mandate? Could the problem lie not in the BOI itself but in CBN’s overreach and misaligned policies?
2. What happened to the March 2024 commitment? The CBN assured BOI it would sustain the SWAP model that enabled its international loan syndications. Has this quietly been abandoned?
3. Where is BOI’s €1.87 billion? Raised through syndications, this fund was transferred in two tranches to the CBN—€1.4 billion in August 2024 and €470 million in December 2024—for “warehousing.” Nigerians deserve to know: how is this money being administered, and how does it square with BOI’s mandate?
The three questions posed on the regulatory role of the CBN are not technical questions. They strike at the heart of accountability, transparency, and Nigeria’s economic sovereignty; this is consistent with the mandate of the CBN in providing economic and financial advice and acting as the banker to the federal government for effective macroeconomic policy management and administration.
Senate Oversight and National Interest
The Senate Committee on Industries owes Nigerians a public report on its oversight of BOI. Silence is complicity. CBN autonomy is not autocracy. Loyalty to tribe or political ties must never override loyalty to truth of professionalism.
Even the CBN’s own handbook of 1988 emphasized diversity and national balance on its board to safeguard Nigeria’s interest. Today, that principle has been abandoned in favour of global mimicry and borrowed frameworks.
Mr. Cardoso may describe himself as a “Brazilian-Nigerian,” but Nigeria cannot afford to be ruled by foreign models that fail to grasp our peculiar economic frailties.
Leadership Beyond Survival
Nations thrive on leadership that multiplies value—not experiments that gamble with livelihoods. Japan sustains half of the world’s oldest companies on trust and enterprise continuity. Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew scaled trust into GDP. Rwanda and Morocco scaled institutional clarity into growth. But under Cardoso, Nigeria is scaling noise, not clarity.
The Way Forward
The National Assembly must redefine the CBN Act to shield the nation from experimental misrule disguised as autonomy. The Presidency must demand accountability for BOI’s trapped funds and insist that development finance institutions serve national priorities, not the Governor’s imported theories.
The question is no longer whether Cardoso has failed—the evidence is overwhelming. The real question is: will the Senate and the President act before Nigeria is dragged further into economic ruin? Nigeria needs a new leadership at the CBN—one rooted in our realities, accountable to our people, and aligned with the Renewed Hope you promised. Anything less is betrayal.
Mr. President, I promise to keep a date with you soon. I trust you will like to read my next article: “Optimising Central Banking Services and how Monetary Systems Work for Wealth Creation in Nigeria.” Till then, I remain your steward and of every other Nigerian.
