THE Governor of the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Lamido Sanusi, has called for the
overhaul and audit of all the sectors of the economy, to actualise the
government’s transformation agenda on a transparent profile.
He said such initiative would cleanse the Augean stable, on a sustainable basis, as already effected in the banking sector.
Sanusi, who made the declaration during his lecture at the Metropolitan Club, in Lagos, said that the issue of accountability and transparency has been long overdue for enforcement, noting that in every decent society, there must be certain lines that cannot be crossed without consequence.
“We cannot deny that there is need for serious governance review on accountability and transparency, especially in oil and works sectors. Using excess crude account for subsidy and its sudden rise from N300 billion to over N2 trillion in a few years should call for question.
“We need to go beyond reforms, because bankers are not the only people in Nigeria that are committing offences. In the works sector, there is need for accountability, as bad roads continue to break down vehicles all over the country.
“Presently, there are certain things that one can do in the financial sector that will send the person to jail and the stakeholders are aware of them. The same should be done in all the sectors and the appropriate sanctions should be meted out without compromise,” he said.
He explained that there is only one foreign reserve, but noted that when a certain amount is earmarked for distribution at the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), the bank only exchanges the dollars for Naira and by that, takes ownership of the dollars.
“When oil is sold and royalties acrued to government are paid into Federation Account, which are mostly in dollars, it is shared at FAAC meeting. CBN exchanges the dollars and pays Naira equivalent to the three tiers of government. This means that the dollars were purchased by the CBN and now becomes reserve held by CBN. That is why it is called CBN reserve.
“What is sold over and above the benchmark, is saved in the Excess Crude Account, which is owned by the three tiers of government and that is the one that is owned exclusively by the Federal Government.
Sanusi said that the nation cannot talk about development without aggregating issues on education, healthcare, infrastructure, Gross Domestic Product and the quality of food.
“We cannot continue ignoring the issues of social environment that we operate in, women empowerment, financial inclusion, governance, accountability and transparency and capacity building.
“Fixing the economy means getting the textile sectors working, fixing the bad roads, ensuring electricity supply and the issue of security. Average Nigerian manufacturer provides these things for itself and this is why production has not been cheaper.
“Lest us start from where we know. Let us produce for the population we have, which other countries are targetting. We can process tomato paste instead of importing it. We produce leather goods, textiles and fabrics. These do not require much high level skills, it is just about focusing on them,” he added.
He said such initiative would cleanse the Augean stable, on a sustainable basis, as already effected in the banking sector.
Sanusi, who made the declaration during his lecture at the Metropolitan Club, in Lagos, said that the issue of accountability and transparency has been long overdue for enforcement, noting that in every decent society, there must be certain lines that cannot be crossed without consequence.
“We cannot deny that there is need for serious governance review on accountability and transparency, especially in oil and works sectors. Using excess crude account for subsidy and its sudden rise from N300 billion to over N2 trillion in a few years should call for question.
“We need to go beyond reforms, because bankers are not the only people in Nigeria that are committing offences. In the works sector, there is need for accountability, as bad roads continue to break down vehicles all over the country.
“Presently, there are certain things that one can do in the financial sector that will send the person to jail and the stakeholders are aware of them. The same should be done in all the sectors and the appropriate sanctions should be meted out without compromise,” he said.
He explained that there is only one foreign reserve, but noted that when a certain amount is earmarked for distribution at the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), the bank only exchanges the dollars for Naira and by that, takes ownership of the dollars.
“When oil is sold and royalties acrued to government are paid into Federation Account, which are mostly in dollars, it is shared at FAAC meeting. CBN exchanges the dollars and pays Naira equivalent to the three tiers of government. This means that the dollars were purchased by the CBN and now becomes reserve held by CBN. That is why it is called CBN reserve.
“What is sold over and above the benchmark, is saved in the Excess Crude Account, which is owned by the three tiers of government and that is the one that is owned exclusively by the Federal Government.
Sanusi said that the nation cannot talk about development without aggregating issues on education, healthcare, infrastructure, Gross Domestic Product and the quality of food.
“We cannot continue ignoring the issues of social environment that we operate in, women empowerment, financial inclusion, governance, accountability and transparency and capacity building.
“Fixing the economy means getting the textile sectors working, fixing the bad roads, ensuring electricity supply and the issue of security. Average Nigerian manufacturer provides these things for itself and this is why production has not been cheaper.
“Lest us start from where we know. Let us produce for the population we have, which other countries are targetting. We can process tomato paste instead of importing it. We produce leather goods, textiles and fabrics. These do not require much high level skills, it is just about focusing on them,” he added.
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