The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that the apex bank under the leadership of Godwin Emefiele has not used private and official chartered flights as it was done during the regime of the past two central bank governors.
In a statement on Saturday, Isaac Okorafor, acting Director, Corporate Communications, said that the apex bank had for several years in the past, used private and official chartered flights in making urgent travels to meet needs in remote, not-easily- accessible locations or in cases where timing might be critical to matters of urgent national importance.
The apex bank’s clarification followed a media report(not by New Mail) that the CBN governor flouted President Muhammad Buhari’s order barring all government top functionaries from flying First Class flights.
This practice, Okoroafor said was in place long before the assumption of office of Emefiele, stressing that in recognition of the critical need in its smooth operations, the “CBN had in the 1990s acquired a dedicated jet for this purpose and for urgent currency movement. This was however taken over by the military administration when there was a more urgent need for it at the State House.
“Thereafter, the CBN occasionally used the chartered services of private operators and those of the Presidential Fleet when available, both of which were paid for.
“However in 2015, in response to the economic downturn and the cost-cutting stance of the government, Emefiele ordered the stoppage of the use of chartered flights by the Bank. Since then, neither Mr. Emefiele nor any of the Deputy Governors has used the services of private chartered flights and the CBN has not paid a kobo for private jet services.
“Mr Emefiele and indeed other principal officers of the CBN have religiously maintained the modest disposition of using regular flights, including doing several trips by road to and from different parts of the country.
“It is also important to note here that no private jet was used by Mr. Emefiele, his immediate family, or indeed other principal officers of the Bank during the burial of Mr Emefiele’s mother.
“For the avoidance of doubt, it should be noted that Mr. Emefiele and his family flew a commercial Arik flight from Lagos to Benin for their mother’s burial.
“All accounts still point to the fact that the Emefiele’s mother’s burial was a model in cost-cutting and an uncommon demonstration of his modest, “made in Nigeria” philosophy,” the statement said.
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