<\/a>Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria arrested<\/h2>\nThe governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),\u00a0<\/span>Godwin Emefiele, has been arrested by the country\u2019s secret police, on undisclosed charges.<\/span><\/p>\nThe controversial banker \u2013 whose try and force Nigeria to go \u201ccashless\u201d earlier this yr caused widespread economic paralysis \u2013 was faraway from his post by the country\u2019s latest president,\u00a0<\/span>Bola Tinubu, on June ninth<\/span>. He was subsequently arrested hours afterward what was described as \u201c<\/span>some investigative reasons<\/span>\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\nBetween January and February, the Central Bank of Nigeria withdrew all high-denomination Naira banknotes from circulation and failed to switch them with the newly designed notes as promised. The shortage of money triggered an economic crunch that saw businesses unable to pay their staff,\u00a0<\/span>people unable to purchase food, and the economy grind to a halt because of the implementation of each day limits on\u00a0<\/span>money\u00a0<\/span>withdrawals.<\/span><\/p>\nIn March, Nigeria\u2019s Supreme Court forced the CBN to pause the cash-swap programme until the top of the yr.<\/span><\/p>\nEmefiele<\/span>\u00a0had faced calls for his arrest following the debacle. Banks were also vandalised<\/span>\u00a0or burned to the bottom by indignant residents eager to access their savings.<\/span><\/p>\nAnnouncing the money swap last October, the CBN said the redesign of the currency would \u201chelp deepen our drive to entrench a cashless economy\u201d and added that the shortage of banknotes would force Nigerians into adopting the eNaira \u2013 the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) that the federal government had previously didn’t encourage residents into adopting through free giveaways.<\/span><\/p>\nThe International Monetary Fund (IMF) \u2013 which played a key role in Nigeria\u2019s CBDC development and roll-out \u2013 described the Nigerian public\u2019s adoption of the eNaira as \u201cdisappointingly low,\u201d with fewer than two per cent of the downloaded eNaira wallets actually getting used<\/span>. CBDCs are viewed with suspicion by many within the country and world wide, for his or her potential for possible government overreach.<\/span><\/p>\nThe Bank of England (BofE) has called for the adoption of CBDCs within the UK. In 2021, the BofE asked ministers to make your mind up whether the proposed \u201cBritcoin\u201d CBDC ought to be \u201cprogrammable\u201d, meaning it might be programmed to robotically expire if not utilized by a certain date or<\/span>\u00a0used to regulate what services or products individuals are allowed to purchase.<\/span><\/p>\nIn March this yr, the<\/span>\u00a0BofE\u2019s\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Katie Fortune rowed back on this possible \u201cprogrammable\u201d suggestion, adding<\/span>:\u00a0<\/span>\u201cWhat we will\u2019t have with public money is a few sense that I would determine you are usually not allowed to spend that on what you wish to spend it on, because the federal government doesn\u2019t approve of what you\u2019re doing<\/span>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n