The governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would no longer have the powers to fix his and other board members salaries, if the amendment bill currently before the Senate succeeds.
Sponsored by Senator Sadiq Suleiman Umar (APC, Kwara), the bill also seeks to stop a CBN governor from being the chairman of the board, as it is currently.
The CBN board is responsible for the policy and general administration of the affairs and business of the bank, including formulation and implementation of exchange rate policy as well as consideration and approval of the bank’s annual budget.
The bill also seeks to stop the CBN governor from approving the annual budget of the bank, while insulating the holder of the office from participating in politics.
Senator Umar, in his lead debate, said central banks globally have different persons as chief executive and chairman of the board.
He said the separation of the two positions will enable any sitting CBN governor to focus more on fiscal and monetary policies than politics of the institution.
Supporting the bill, Senator Betty Apiafi (PDP Rivers), said the amendment of the CBN has become imperative in view of the way the incumbent governor, Godwin Emefiele, was branded as a presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in May this year.
The bill, after scaling the second reading, was referred to the Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions for further legislative works.
