Hardship: I’m not responsible for Nigeria’s economic woes –Cardoso

The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, has distanced himself from the economic woes Nigerians are currently experiencing.

Cardoso said he and his team were not responsible for the prevailing economic challenges Nigerians were facing.

He spoke after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.

Cardoso assured that the apex bank was taking necessary steps to get the country’s fiscal and monetary health back to normal.

Asked if the policies introduced by the CBN under his watch were responsible for the economic challenges in the country, Cardoso said: “I laugh at that question but it’s not a laughing matter and 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.

“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.”