A bill to stop the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Deputy Governor, and its Directors from partisan politics is under work in the House of the Representatives.
The bill which scaled the second reading after a voice vote supervised by the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase, who presided over the plenary, will be sent to the Committee on Banking and Currency for detailed legislative work to add more conditions to disqualification and appointment of Governor, Deputy Governor and Director of the CBN according to its sponsor, Sada Soli,
The sitting CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele planned to participate in the current 2023 electoral process to contest the position of the presidency of the country. He later withdrew owing to the provision of the Electoral Act which compels a serving political appointee to resign his position to be able to participate in the electoral process and contest elections.
“Why I am doing this is because there was a time the CBN Governor went to court seeking an interpretation of whether he can participate in partisan politics.
“We need to address that. Today the credibility of CBN in the custody of sensitive election material is being questioned.
“It is not against any individual but to save the integrity of CBN.”
The bill is expected to add more stringent conditions to the appointment or cessation of appointments of the CBN Governor, Deputy Governor as well as Directors of the Bank.
The bill if it is finally scaled through, will also amend the CBN Act 2007, and according to Soli, the amendment was not prejudiced against anybody but because the Act was tested and was found weak.
He added that the Act needed to be amended to strengthen the Apex Bank and restore its credibility from the shock it had suffered in the cause of interpreting the law.
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