Senate President, Godswill Akpabio has called for a review of the Act establishing the Central Bank of Nigeria.
This was followed by the hints by one of the ministerial nominees and former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank on Operation, Adebayo Adelabu.
Adelabu, while responding to some of the questions on the floor of the Senate during his screening exercise on Tuesday, suggested proper monitoring of the CBN activities by the Economic Management Team.
The former CBN Deputy Governor also raised concerns over the reporting line between the Central Bank and the President, where it is only the governor that relates directly with the Presidency.
He suggested that either in a quarter or one in six months that the entire committee of governors should meet with Mr. President to add their views, from their perspectives.
Adelabu noted that this will give the Presidency opportunity to go through some of the dissenting opinions at the meetings of the Committee of Governors, Board of Directors, and Monetary Policy Committee.
According to him, “Most of these controversial decisions coming out of the CBN were actually taken by either three out of five or four out of five.
“There’s always a minority opinion. So far (as) the three have the governor by their side, they have their way, the minority will have their say. They may even have superior arguments.”
“We must ensure that the appointment of the four deputy governors must be independent of the Central Bank governor, so that they are not subservient to the governor himself,” Adelabu said.
In his responds on the perceived contest between the Federal Government and the apex bank, Adelabu emphasized that the CBN is an arm of the Federal Government, which oversees the monetary policy functions
He added that the second arm overseeing the fiscal policy arm includes the ministries of Finance, Budget, and Planning, and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).
Reacting to the hints by the ministerial nominee, Senate President, Godswill Akpabio called for a review of the CBN Act.
According to him, “I think this is food for thought for distinguished senators, and that means we must revisit the act that set up the CBN because most of the problems we are seeing cannot be answered by him but he cannot stand here and condemn the very institution to which he belongs.
“But he has at least hinted to us that it is not every decision that he agreed with, or the other deputy governors agreed with. So, we probably would not have been where we are now if indeed we had proper oversight and monitoring of the CBN by the act itself.”
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