BY Nathaniel Zaccheaus, Abuja

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has promised that the National Assembly will soon amend the Central Bank of Nigeria Act.

He stated this when the ministerial nominee from Oyo State, Adedayo Adelabu, a former deputy governor of the CBN, appeared before the Red Chamber for screening yesterday.

Adelabu, had told the lawmakers that the apex financial institution was not being monitored by any external body which has the statutory responsibility to oversee its affairs.

Akpabio said, “Adelabu has pointed out that there was no proper monitoring of the CBN.

“He also said there was no statutory meeting that involved the Accountant General of the federation, the CBN Governor, the Budget planning division, and the four deputy governors.

“Even once in a year. He said throughout the five years of serving, nothing like that. He also pointed out that there was nobody that is supervising the apex financial institution. Whatever decision they take, they have nobody to report to.

“This is a food for thought for distinguished senators. That means that we must revisit the Act that set up the CBN because most of the problems we are seeing solution cannot be provided by the nominee (Adelabu). We won’t be where we are now,” Akpabio said.

Adelabu has said, “The CBN has never been in competition with the Federal Government because it is an economic arm of executive.

“ It oversees the monetary policy functions of the FG. The second arm is the Ministry of Finance, Budget, OAGF, that oversees the fiscal policy arm.

 “Technically, I don’t really see anything wrong with the structure of the CBN.

“The only issue is around the governance structure of supervising the CBN. I want to say that power is corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

“There are three highest decision-making bodies in the CBN. They are, The  committee on governance, monetary policy committee and the board of directors.

“The CBN Governor is the Chairman of the three committees which is good. There is nothing bad in it because all over the world, the independence of the CBN must be guaranteed.

“However the Governor is just the first among the equals. There are five governors in the CBN.

“A Governor and four deputy governors. We must ensure that each of the deputy governors is independent of the Governor so that they are not subservient to the Governor.

“The liberty line is the Governor to the presidency. Once in six months, the five governors should meet with Mr. President and take certain decisions. There is always a minority opinion.

“The economic management team of the nation which comprised the finance minister, the budget and national planning, the CBN Governor, the Accountant General of the Federation and some other relevant ministries must have some subtle oversight in terms of interrogating a lot of decisions of the CBN.

“If the CBN knows that it will report to a body in terms of the companies and individuals they allocated foreign exchange to, and how they arrive at exchange rate, there would be caution.”