Senator Adams Oshiomhole, representing Edo North, has blamed the alarming depreciation of the naira on the massive and indiscriminate printing of money by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
He pointed specifically to the controversial “Ways and Means” policy, which he described as a reckless fiscal practice that fueled inflation and weakened the currency.
Oshiomhole made this assertion on Saturday during an interactive session hosted by the Progressives Governors Forum in Benin City, Edo State. The former governor and ex-labour leader criticized the CBN’s overreliance on the Ways and Means provision, which allows the federal government to borrow directly from the apex bank to finance short-term budget shortfalls.
“We are coming from an era that almost mirrored the disastrous economic conditions of Zimbabwe or Idi Amin’s Uganda,” Oshiomhole remarked. “There, the president once instructed the central bank governor to simply print more money for the people, to which the governor responded that doing so would render the Ugandan currency worthless.”
He continued, drawing parallels with Nigeria’s recent past: “That’s exactly what the immediate past CBN governor did. According to records from the Senate, the bank printed over ₦31 trillion under the guise of Ways and Means. These are just deceptive terminologies.
“When government wants to mislead the public, they use such economic jargon. But in plain terms, it simply means printing money without any backing—no earned revenue, no reserves—just printing naira notes and pushing them into circulation to create the illusion of wealth.”
Oshiomhole further argued that the indiscriminate printing of currency was the principal cause of the naira’s free fall and the spike in cost of living.
“If you want to understand the root of the present economic hardship and unstable exchange rate, you need to look no further than the reckless use of Ways and Means. That singular policy decision is what caused the massive devaluation of the naira,” he said.
He also warned that the burden of these poor fiscal choices has now fallen squarely on the shoulders of the current administration. “The previous government was borrowing daily—like fish drinking water—and now President Bola Tinubu has inherited the responsibility to repay these loans if Nigeria is to preserve its financial independence and sovereignty,” Oshiomhole stated.
The senator emphasized that the Tinubu administration has since halted the Ways and Means practice, a step he described as essential to restoring fiscal discipline. Nonetheless, he cautioned that the damage already done by past policies would take time to undo.