The Presidency has debunked the reports claiming that President Bola Tinubu advised former President Muhammadu Buhari to print naira notes in 2020.
A Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President, Bayo Onanuga, dismissed the claims in a statement via X, describing it as erroneous.
Paul Ibe, spokesman for the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, in 2023 general election Atiku Abubakar, had claimed Tinubu advised Buhari to print Naira in 2020.
Ibe’s submission followed Minister of Finance, Wale Edun’s comment on the printing of N22.7 trillion under Buhari’s administration.
Edun had said the printing of N22.7 trillion by the Central Bank of Nigeria in the name of a Ways and Means loan under Buhari’s administration and ex-CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele was responsible for the current rising inflation and economic hardship in Nigeria.
The Minister while speaking during an interface with the Senate Committee on Finance, noted that the Ways and Means loans of N22.7 trillion under the past administration were done aimlessly.
He explained that the alleged reckless spending of the overdraft collected from the CBN under Emefiele largely accounted for the country’s food and security crises.
The minister vowed that Tinubu’s government would audit the CBN printing in the last eight years.
In his response, Onanuga cited that Tinubu had clarified the issue when it was first reported.
“President Tinubu did not advise the Buhari administration to print Naira, the way it was erroneously reported in 2020. He provided a clarification in Thisday of 30 March, 2020, a day after the false report came out,” Onanuga wrote.
