Olayemi Cardoso, Where Is The Money? Imperative Of Leadership Change At Central Bank of Nigeria

Mr. President, in my last article Final Warning to Cardoso’s Cardinal Failure, I reminded you that Nigeria’s battle is not for slogans but for survival. Between now and 2027, no speech or propaganda can save your mandate; Nigerians will judge you by the cost of food, the strength of the naira, and the dignity of their daily lives. This is the “economy of votes,” and it is unforgiving.

October 1st: A Day of Decision

Independence Day must be your day of decision. Nigerians are weary, investors are restless, and the poor are hungry. Without a decisive cabinet reshuffle and an economic reset, you risk repeating Goodluck Jonathan’s 2015 fate—defeat delivered not by politics but by economic discontent. At the heart of this drift lies the Central Bank of Nigeria under Olayemi Cardoso.

The CBN Bottleneck

By raising intervention lending rates from 9% to 15% amid mass MSME collapse, and by warehousing the Bank of Industry’s €1.87 billion syndication fund without transparency, Cardoso has abandoned prudence for peril. Autonomy is not autocracy.

The Senate must assert oversight, and you must demand accountability. Nigerians deserve to know where the money is—subsidy savings, naira floatation gains, diaspora remittances—all remain trapped in opacity while poverty deepens.

A President’s Error of Judgement

Sir, when you told investors in Brazil that corruption no longer exists in Nigeria because there was “more money in the economy,” it was more than bold—it was reckless. Nigerians look around and see nothing but poverty amidst plenty. The truth is simple: money exists, but it does not flow.

Our “Naira River” has been dam at the CBN, without allowing it into our patched land to irrigate our farming field. This is the second time flawed intelligence has misled you—the first being your position on Benue attacks, where your assessment contradicted the reality confirmed by the Chief of Defence Staff of what a clash is.

A Dream for Diaspora, a Nightmare for Nigerians at Home

The launch of the Non-Resident BVN (NRBVN) excited diaspora Nigerians, but those at home are crushed by rising food, energy, and transport costs. If the CBN can innovate for foreign currencies abroad, why can’t it reform for the naira at home?

Instead of being banker to government and facilitator of growth, the CBN has become a warehouse of inertia. Budgets remain bloodless, contractors unpaid, and projects abandoned, even as debt servicing flows like clockwork.

The Failed Role of Banker to Government

The CBN’s constitutional duty is to keep fiscal appropriations liquid and productive. Under Cardoso, bottlenecks multiply, procurement stalls, and capital project execution crawls. This is dereliction of duty. Subsidy savings are unaccounted for, naira floatation proceeds remain invisible, and recurrent expenditures stall.

Cardoso’s imported models ignore Nigeria’s peculiar realities, starving productive sectors while speculative activities thrive. The man tasked with lubricating the economy has instead paralysed it.

What Must Happen

Cardoso must go. His detachment and failed policies have deepened the logjam.

Re-humanise the CBN: Look inward. Some of Nigeria’s best-trained monetary experts are products of the CBN but have been sidelined by bureaucratic politics and edged out through bigotry of tribes and religion. Reinvent Central Banking system, build institutional confidence and empower a product of the institution to take the lead.

Transparency in flows: Publish the subsidy savings, floatation gains, and remittance inflows. Let Nigerians see the money trail and feel its impact.

Budget liquidity discipline: Ensure timely release of appropriated funds to ministries and contractors.

Returning to a Culture of Accountability

Mr. President, recall Lagos in 2000, when under your governorship pressmen openly scored commissioners and published results. It was a culture of accountability where performance—not propaganda—spoke. The best in your pack of 2000 went on to serve the immediate administration as the Vice President on your recommendation.

Today, as Cardoso drags the CBN into opacity and other appointees thrive on photo ops, Nigerians need that performance spirit revived. Your legacy must be of structures, not slogans—institutionalises public scorecards nationwide and let every appointee face measurable scrutiny.

A Warning for the Future

If Cardoso remains, liquidity will remain choked, contractors unpaid, and the dream of a $1 trillion economy by 2030 will die on his desk.

But if you act—easing him out, repositioning the CBN, and restoring accountability—you will not only save the economy, but you will also etch your name as the President who made transparency and performance culture irreversible.

Mr. President, Cardoso has become the bottleneck. Free Nigeria’s economy from his grip and let money flow again like clockwork to create wealth for citizens.

Otherwise, history will record that when budgets overlapped, when citizens suffered, and when money was trapped—you saw it, you were told, but you refused to act.

Dr. Bolaji O. Akinyemi is an Apostle and Nation Builder. He’s also President Voice of His Word Ministries and Convener Apostolic Round Table. BoT Chairman, Project Victory Call Initiative, AKA PVC Naija. He is a strategic Communicator and the C.E.O, Masterbuilder Communications.

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