The decision by ex-President Muhammadu Buhari and his successor, Bola Tinubu, to make themselves Minister of Petroleum Resources deepens opaqueness and frustrates investigation of N11 trillion fuel subsidy payment in the oil and gas sector.
The above was the submission of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, at an event, yesterday, organised by the Bank Directors’ Association of Nigeria in Abuja.
He said, unfortunately, the development deprived Nigerians and critical stakeholders the opportunity to engage the substantive minister on probity since 2015.
At the event, themed, ‘Emerging issues: Navigating the complex balance between regulation and compliance’, the one-time Emir of Kano stated: “The National Assembly called NNPCL (Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited) to bring the documents. They refused. And by the way, let me advise that this idea of the President being a Petroleum Minister is not a good idea. The last President was the Minister of Petroleum for eight years.
“When I was Governor of the Central Bank, we had a Petroleum Minister. So, when I talk about NNPCL, people will say I am attacking the President. Now, nobody can talk about Petroleum. Because (in that) eight years, if you talk, you are attacking the President. We need that buffer. Somebody has to be there. A minister has to be there, who is held accountable by the people.”
He wondered why the NNPCL was not able to bring in dollars, adding: “Where are the dollars? We need to shine a light on NNPCL.”
Sanusi argued that if government does not know how much oil the country produces, it would not be able to fix leakages either.
The ex-monarch queried: “Where is the money saved so far since the petrol subsidy ceased?”
He, however, insulated the apex bank from the current economic crisis, noting: “The Central Bank does not manufacture dollars. It is not an exporter. It produces Naira. It can buy dollars. It can create an environment for dollars to come in. It can bank dollars for the government. But it does not produce dollars. If you want to have stable tax rates, you’ve got to go back to those issues we raised in 2014. You need to follow the money.”
To produce more crude oil, Sanusi called for a radical departure from the way things are done.
He also faulted the ongoing attempt at amending the CBN Act.
The fiery banker cautioned that if a law is not being implemented as it should, the operators are the ones called to question.
Sanusi urged the National Assembly to refrain from politicising the apex bank, its role and policies.
In his intervention, Chairman of Fidelity Bank, Mustapha Chike-Obi, who restated support of Nigerian financial institutions to the reforms that CBN has introduced so far, said their response to the growth agenda had been impressive.
He implored the lender of last resort to institute twice-a-year meeting with chairman of banks.(Guardian)
