The Senate yesterday said it would revisit the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act to address governance gaps in its structure.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio gave the hint during the screening of former CBN Deputy Governor, Mr Adebayo Adelabu, who was nominated as minister by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Adelabu had faulted the lack of comprehensive oversight of the CBN governor, which he blamed for the overbearing influence of the holders of the position.
Akpabio said: “This is a food for thought for us. We must revisit the Act that sets up the CBN because most of the problems we are seeing cannot be answered by him.
“He cannot stand here and condemn the very institution that he belonged to, 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 a proper oversight and monitoring of the CBN by the Act itself.”
Responding to questions, Adelabu noted that the governance structure of the bank is defective.
Noting that absolute power corrupts absolutely, the former governorship candidate in Oyo State said the structure inadvertently gives the CBN governor absolute powers that could be abused.
He also noted that the absence of oversight may make the governor uncontrollable.
To buttress his view, Adelabu said: “There are three decision-making bodies in CBN: the Committee of Governors, Monetary Policy Committee and the Board of Directors.
“The CBN Governor is the Chairman of these three committees, which is good, there’s nothing bad in it because all over the world, the dependence of the CBN must be guaranteed.
“The governor is just the first among equals. There are five governors in the CBN, a governor and four deputy governors but we must ensure that the appointment of the deputies must be independent of the CBN governor so that they are not subservient to the governor.
“Number two is the fact that the reporting line is the governor to the presidency and for five years, the President may not see any of the deputy governors.”
“There should be occasions, it could be once in a quarter, once in six months, that the entire Committee of Governors would meet with Mr. President, and they add their own perspective to issues.
“There’s what is called minority opinions in all the minutes of the CoG, of the MPC and of the Board of Directors. They are always documented.
“Most of these controversial decisions coming out of the CBN were actually taken by three out of five or four out of five. There’s always a minority opinion.
“So far, the three have the governor on their side, they have their way. The minority will have its say, they may even have superior arguments.
“Once in a while, I believe the President should undertake to go through some of these minority opinions at the CoG, the Board of Directors meetings or MPC meetings. A number of issues may actually come out it.
“Lastly, I also suggest that the economic management team of the country, which is comprised of the finance minister, the budget office, the national planning, CBN governor, the Accountant General of the Federation and some other relevant ministries must have some subtle oversights in terms of interrogating a lot of decisions of the CBN.
“If CBN knows that there is a body it will report to, in terms of the list of the companies and individuals they allocated foreign exchange to, how the MPC arrived at the interest rates, the benchmark rates, the volume of money created, in terms of BDC licenced, payment system, even development finance intervention and lending, they would be very, very moderate and they will be careful.
“This is because this is an abnormal situation in the country and it must be handled unconventionally.”
