The Senate Committee on Finance has expressed disaffection over the absence of the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele at its budget defence sitting on Monday.
The Committee, which has Senator Solomon Adeola (APC, Lagos West) as chairman, has invited the CBN Governor to appear before it to explain the rationale behind the exchange rates it used for three key projects under the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund(PIDF) being funded to the tune of billions of naira by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority(NSIA) across the country.
The invitation was sequel to revelations made by Managing Director of NSIA, Mr Uche Orji and his management team where Orji disclosed to the committee that the contracts for the projects were denominated in naira and CBN exchange rate for the disbursed fund was N325 to a dollar instead of the official rate of N305.
Findings revealed that the PIDF was earmarked from dollar-denominated Sovereign Wealth Fund to partly fund the Lagos –Ibadan Expressway, Second Niger Bridge, Abuja –Kano Expressway, East-West Road and Mambilla Hydro Project with the first three projects already funded to the tune of N163.8 billion.
While summoning Mr Emefiele, last Friday, Senator Adeola said: “This committee will like to see the contract documents for these projects and why the exchange rate for the dollar to naira was at N325 to a dollar instead of the official rate of N305 in a government to government transaction for these key infrastructure projects. We are not indicting NSIA or conducting an investigation or probe of CBN but we like to know the reason why this different rate was used.”
At the Senate session, the Managing Director of NSIA, Mr Uche Orji came with his team but the CBN Governor was represented by his Deputy, Sonubi Folashodun.
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Folashodun told the Committee that he received a directive on phone on Sunday from the CBN Governor to appear before the Committee.
The lawmakers insisted that Mr Emefiele could not be represented by proxy and demanded his appearance.
Chairman of the Committee, Senator Adeola, accused the CBN Governor of consistently ignoring the invitation of the Committee. He recalled that during the presentation of Medium Term Expenditures Framework(MTEF) for the 2020 Budget, Mr Emefiele was invited to appear before the Committee but he refused to come.
He said: “We don’t want representation by proxy. He must come here. When we invited him for MTEF he didn’t come; this is the second time he isn’t here.”
Senators Uche Ekwunife, ( Anambra central) Kashim Shettima, ( Borno central) Jubrin Isah, ( Kogi east) and Teslim Folarin, (Oyo Central) spoke in a similar vein as they expressed reservations over the absence of the apex bank governor.
Senator Adamu Aliero, however, differed with his colleagues as he said the Deputy Governor of the CBN could stand-in for his boss.
He said:” We all know the Governor of the CBN is a very busy man but he has sent a senior person, his deputy. I will plead with my colleagues with due respect to allow his deputy.”
Senator Adeola, however, overruled Senator Aliero and asked the Deputy Governor of the CBN, Mr Folashodun to take his exit and inform his boss to make himself available on Wednesday.
“From the submission of the CBN deputy governor, he received a phone call which means he hasn’t been given a proper briefing.
“This is the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. There is no formal letter from the CBN governor to this Committee. We are going to reschedule for another date with the team of NSIA to answer questions bordering on the future of SWF and give us further clarification on the activities of the CBN as it affects the SWF.
” It is unfortunate that we can’t go ahead without the CBN governor presence. We expect him on Wednesday.”
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