The Presidency has said former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, took billions from the foreign reserves without the approval of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

The presidential spokesman added that many Nigerians might not believe that Buhari did not know about the atrocities committed by Emefiele.

Ngelale said Emefiele succeeded in depleting Nigeria’s foreign reserve because he was the apex governor and the chairman of the CBN Board of Trustees.

He said: “What was done concerning the expenditure of billions of dollars from the foreign reserves was done largely without the approval or knowledge of President Muhammad Buhari and President Bola Tinubu.

“Yes, that might seem hard for some people to believe, but I want to explain how that could have happened.

“We have one of the few Central Banks in the world where the day-to-day CEO was the Governor of the Central Bank and was also the chairman of the board of directors. He was essentially overseeing himself.”

The presidential aide said Tinubu is spearheading reforms that would close the loopholes that allowed for the malpractices of the past.

He said: “Moving forward, the kind of elite conspiracy we saw between CBN officials, high-ranking government officials and high-ranking members of the private sector, they’re not going to be able to conspire amongst themselves to find loopholes within the system because we have a president who is an auditor and accountant who will close those loopholes just the way he did in Lagos State many years ago.

“The President (Tinubu) has taken a comprehensive review of the organisational structures that led to Godwin Emefiele putting the nation in the position that it currently is.

“And he has said, even by legislation, that we are going to ensure that not only guardrails are put in place, but that legislative changes be enacted in such a way that this can never happen.”