Senate considers bill seeking to reduce powers of CBN governor

A bill seeking to whittle down the powers of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor has passed second reading at the senate.

The bill was passed by the upper chamber on Tuesday after Sadiq Umar, senator representing Kwara north led a debate on the general principles of legislation.

While leading a debate, Umar said the bill is proposing that another person — outside the CBN — should be appointed chairman of the CBN board.

The senator said the legislation is also proposing that the board should not be in charge of fixing the salaries and allowances of members. He added that they should not also approve the budget of the apex bank that would be sent to the national assembly for consideration every fiscal year.

But Ovie Omo-Agege, deputy senate president and James Manager, senator representing Delta south, kicked against the bill.

They argued that the timing of the bill was wrong and that there were not enough details to explain the proposed amendments.

While Manager said the bill should be “negatived”, Omo-Agege called for more work on the bill.

When it was put to voting, the majority of the senators agreed with the bill.

On his part, Senate President Ahmad Lawan referred the bill to the committee on banking, insurance and other financial institutions for further legislative input.

The committee is expected to report back in four weeks.