Excessive Money Printing Crashed Naira — Oshiomhole Blames Buhari-Era CBN, Says ₦31tr Ways And Means Wrecked Economy

Senator Adams Oshiomhole, representing Edo North, has attributed the collapse of the naira and Nigeria’s current economic woes to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) unchecked money printing under former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Speaking on Saturday during a meeting of the Progressives Governors Forum in Benin City, Edo State, Oshiomhole, a former governor of the state and ex-national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said the controversial Ways and Means financing—a legal provision that allows the Federal Government to obtain short-term loans from the CBN—was abused beyond limits under the previous administration.

“We are coming from a country that was almost like Zimbabwe or Idi Amin’s Uganda,” Oshiomhole said. “In Uganda, when the president asked the central bank to print money and was warned it would destroy the currency, he insisted they print it for people to share. That’s exactly what the immediate past CBN governor did.”

He stated that over ₦31 trillion was printed under the guise of “Ways and Means,” warning that the terminology was used to deceive the public.

“They called it ‘Ways and Means’, but it simply means printing banknotes without earnings or backing—just to satisfy political needs and money illusions,” he said. “That excessive printing is what led to the collapse of the naira.”

Oshiomhole also slammed the debt culture of the Buhari administration, likening it to “a fish drinking water nonstop.” He said this reckless borrowing, combined with monetary indiscipline, has placed a heavy burden on the current government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who now must repay debts and restore fiscal sanity.

“The current administration is left to clean up the mess, pay the debts, and salvage what remains of our economic sovereignty,” he noted.

He further explained that unless Nigerians trace the root of today’s inflation and exchange rate crisis to these excessive monetary practices, it would be difficult to understand the present cost-of-living crisis.

Despite the senator’s bold criticisms, many Nigerians online and across political circles have dismissed the remarks as “belated eye service” and “classic blame game politics.” Critics argue that Oshiomhole was conspicuously silent when he was at the helm of the APC during Buhari’s administration, and even defended government policies at the time.

“Where was this energy when he was APC chairman and part of the inner circle?” one user wrote on social media. “Why didn’t he raise alarm when trillions were being printed? This is classic after-the-fact politics.”

Some political analysts say Oshiomhole’s comments may signal a widening rift within the APC or a calculated attempt to distance the Tinubu administration from Buhari’s economic legacy.

Nonetheless, his remarks underscore growing acknowledgment within the ruling party that past policies contributed significantly to Nigeria’s fiscal instability.

The CBN under new leadership has since curtailed Ways and Means advances and tightened monetary policy to combat inflation and stabilise the naira.