Nigerian Bank Nigeria – Labour Calls For Probe Of CBN

Source: Thisdayonline, Feb 2012

Organised labour has called on the National Assembly to immediately initiate a probe into the activities of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).The call is with a view to unravel the source of free funds available to it and the way in which the apex bank has managed its various assignments.

Reacting to the apex bank’s donations of N100 million to Kano State government, the leadership of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) frowned at the action of the Governor of CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, describing it as a misplacement and abuse of statutory prerogatives. President General of the Congress, Peter Esele, stressed the need for the CBN governor to concentrate efforts in initiating policies and programmes that would drive the nation’s economy and bring about stability to the Naira rather than embarking on charitable projects.

Esele, who maintained that the apex bank is not a political party or a charity organisation, urged the apex regulatory body to immediately purge itself of this action by publicly acknowledging it as a mistake. He also enjoined the bank to take a further step to ensure that neither the incumbent officials nor any other incoming official is in a position to embark on such divisive action now or in the future.

He called on the Federal Government to put in place measures to remove whatsoever principles, rules and traditions that made it possible for the Central Bank to donate tax-payers money to any cause.
He added that any extant law that empowers the CBN to so should be amended by the National Assembly, in order to avoid any form of abuse by government agencies and institutions.

“TUC frowns at the recent actions of donating N100 million to the Kano state government by the CBN and further donation to the Niger State government. We consider this as not only insensitive given the diverse social tensions that have enveloped the nation in the past one year but also a misplacement and abuse of statutory prerogatives.

“We would have loved the CBN governor to have concentrated his energy and wit in crafting monetary policies that would help in driving the nation out of its present economic doldrums and in bringing the much-sought stability to the battered naira, which seems to have overwhelmed him rather than embarking on this present donations spree.

“When has the CBN suddenly become a charity organisation set up to dole out handouts to Nigerians? That is why we are at a loss under which authority the CBN derived the powers to embark on this mission.

“The CBN is not supposed to be involved in conducts that would distract it from its statutory roles to the economy and the Nigerian people. Actions that could portray it in anyway, as being sectional commonsense dictates, should be avoided. “We demand that the National Assembly embarks on an immediate probe of the activities of the CBN to unravel the source of these free funds that have suddenly become available to it and to throw more light on the way it has managed its various assignments,” Esele said.

Speaking further, he urged public office holders and institutions to avoid actions that may lend credence to the activities of the divisive agents and others who are bent on shedding the blood of innocent Nigerians and destroying the nation in the process. According to him, all the groups violently expressing their views and their sponsors are bent on causing ethnic tensions which may lead to deeper eruptions and schisms within the polity.

“Our actions must therefore be carefully weighed especially when we are in the public glare taking all the different specificities into consideration to avoid aiding albeit unwittingly those that are seeking ways to destroy our hard won liberty,” Esele added.

Nigerian Bank Nigeria