The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) current forex policy is aimed at ensuring strict monetary policy that will help check inflation, reduce unemployment and ensure economic growth, a coalition of civil societies has said.

A statement by the president of the Coalition of Civil Societies in Nigeria, Etuk Bassey Williams, said yesterday that the media attacks on President Muhammadu Buhari and CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele were sponsored by elements who took advantage of the loopholes in the former forex regime.

The civil society coalition said the new forex regime “has been very steady as the present government has been doing all within its powers to, not only manage an already battered economy inherited from the last administration, but also ensure sustainable economic growth.”

The statement said the recent anti-CBN protests sponsored by “self-centred, callous and corrupt politicians who explore the ignorance of unsuspecting Nigerians to sow the seed of deceit and discord in order to discredit President Buhari and members of his economic team is, to say the least, wicked and unpatriotic.”

The coalition urged various security agencies to investigate, arrest and prosecute “these corrupt politicians with penchant for sponsoring protests and media propaganda against political office holders in order to blackmail them.”