Nigeria - Senator Recommends Sack Of CBN Governor Sanusi

"Nigerians should stop this professinal miscalculation, financial suicide" Senator Femi Ojudu representing Ekiti Central District has  recommended the  sack of  Central Bank Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi  on the ground that his planned introduction of N5000 note amounted to a misconduct.

The Senator, in a statement yesterday said the CBN’s plan to restructure the nation’s currency will cause more harm than good to the nation’s economy and the people’s well-being.

Ojudu, who expressed dismay at the proposal, wondered how CBN could, in all sense of professionalism and progress, be thinking of such when the country’s inflationary rate currently stands at 12.9 per cent.

He urged President Goodluck Jonathan to invoke the provision of Section 11 of the CBN Act to remove Sanusi and his deputies “as their present act of trying to worsen the living conditions of Nigerians constitutes a serious gross misconduct.”

He argued that in a country like Nigeria where prices hardly come down, the CBN Governor and his team are literally pronouncing death sentence on Nigerians.

In the statement by his media aide, Mr Dimeji Daniels, Ojudu said: “As opposed to its tag ‘Project C.U.R.E’ (Currency Restructuring Exercise), the so-called project will bring cancer rather than cure to the Nigerian economy.

He urged all well-meaning Nigerians to support the opposition to the CBN plan. The Senator  said although he was not opposed to a limited autonomy for the apex bank, he believes the current development necessitates an urgent amendment of CBN Act.

Ojudu claimed that it has become imperative for all Nigerians to halt what he terms professional miscalculation and financial suicide on the part of the CBN.

The lawmaker added that incidents like this only serve to accentuate the need to overhaul the CBN Act that confers too much powers on  the CBN Governor.

Relying on Sections 6 subsection 2 (a) and 7 subsection 1 of the CBN Act, Ojudu said it was appalling that the same Governor, who is in charge of the day-to-day management of the CBN, is also the Chairman of the CBN Board to which the management is answerable, meaning that the CBN Governor is answerable to himself.

Ojudu said the most unacceptable part of the CBN Act is Section 8 subsection 3 which states that the board stipulates the salaries of the Governor, Deputy Governors and staff of the CBN, which, in other words, means that the CBN Governor also stipulates his own salary.

He  noted that while he believes that the CBN autonomy is very important, there must be checks on such autonomy to ensure that the CBN does not embark on fruitless jamborees like it is currently doing.