Why we were absent at Nigeria-US investment summit – Adeosun, Emefiele

Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun and the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, on Sunday gave explanations on why they did not attend the Nigeria-US Investors Summit in Washington, DC on Saturday.

The minister and the CBN governor, in a briefing on Sunday in Washington D.C., explained that the summit was never part of their schedule in the U.S. capital and that they only came to knaw about the summit when they arrived U.S.

Adeosun said, “I attended the IMFC which is the highest decision-making body of the IMF. My primary role here as well as having the Nigerian hat on is to represent 23 African countries. So one of the things I have to do is to issue a statement on behalf of those 23 which includes most of the Anglophone countries: South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania.

“So, my primary role here, as well as having a Nigerian hat on is to represent the 23 African countries. There has been some controversy about the scheduling I wasn’t due at any event. I was here as a governor of the IMF and member of IMFC to represent those 23 African countries and that schedule is what I must adhere to.”

Emefiele also clarifying why he did not attend the summit said that a plenary session of IMF finance ministers and Central Bank Governors was holding at the same time of the event.

“Being the governor of the CBN what takes preeminence is the meetings in the IMF as well as the meeting at the World Bank. I think it is important for me to say this when I arrived in Washington, the officials of the embassy spoke with me that there was going to be a US-Nigeria summit and I said I will check my schedule because I wasn’t consulted when this summit was being organised.

“What one would have expected is that they would have checked my schedule and that of the finance minister if they thought that our presence at the summit was very necessary.

“The US Nigeria summit was meant to hold between 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. whereas the World Bank development committee plenary session which is an assembly of ministers and governors of central banks was to hold between 2:15 p.m. and 5p.m. There was no way the minister of finance and myself could have been at those meetings.

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“We are not irresponsible people and please we apologise to those investors who had gathered at the Nigerian embassy for the summit. My apologies but I know we also held some side meetings with some investors and there will always be lots of opportunities to meet with them,” Emefiele said.

Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, who attended the investment summit organised by the Embassy of Nigeria in the US, had lambasted Adeosun, Emefiele, including Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, some ministers and other top government officials for not attending the summit.

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