House Leader kicks against moves to whittle down CBN gov’s powers

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8 years ago

The Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon Leo Ogor has kicked against moves by the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, to whittle down the powers of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Fielding questions from news men in Abuja at the weekend, Ogor said such moves should be discarded “as it is tantamount to eroding the independence of the Central Bank, CBN.”

According to the lawmaker, “rather than whittling the powers of Central Bank which is not in conformity with best international practices as present day realities has demonstrated worldwide, our Finance minister should initiate relevant fiscal policies aimed at stimulating the economy from recession.

“If the Minister succeeds with her plan, the reaction time of the CBN to monetary policies will be greatly impaired by bureaucracy as it is expected to act through a supervisory agency and such move will result in undue political interference in monetary policies, which will not augur well for the economy.”

Ogor argued that “rather than asking for cuts, the minister should have asked for power strengthening for the CBN.

“The Central Bank should remain independent and not be brought under the Ministry of Finance. The CBN should not be seen as an appendage of the finance ministry.”

Ogor who was more concerned about the adverse impact it would have on the larger economy by subjecting the CBN to the ministry’s supervision pointed out that “reinforcing the CBN’s autonomy as a global practice should be encouraged while the relationship between the ministry and CBN should be the coordination of monetary and fiscal policies”.

According to him, “to say that the Governor and the Central Bank should be under the control of the Executive would mean that any decision that is made by the CBN will be subjected to political influence. So, the place of the Central Bank is sacrosanct. In fact, such an idea should be thrown out immediately as it is not in consonance with global best practices.”