As the House of Senate debates on a bill for an act to amend the Central Bank of Nigeria Act NO. 7 of 2007 to further empower the Bank to carry out its principal objects in line with section 2 of the Act and for other related matters sponsored by Sen. Mukhail Adetokunbo Abiru. The bill was co-sponsored by all the 32 members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions which was first read on Tuesday 30th January, 2024.
The proposed amendments are aimed at strengthening the Bank to discharge its primary mandate of maintaining monetary and price stability in support government's economic growth objectives as well as align its governance mechanism with global best practices. Senator Lere Oyewumi, who is the Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance also supports the bill seeking to empower career staffers of the CBN to be elevated to the position of deputy governors. This promotes a smooth transition process as well as minimizes the risk of loss of institutional memory in implementing the Bank's mandate.
Senator Lere Oyewumi equally called on the CBN to allow the new and old legal tender to be used simultaneously for transactions. He equally supports the proposed bill that before the apex bank can replace an old legal tender with a new one under any restructuring, redesigning, redenomination, or any similar arrangement, it should give reasonable notice of at least one year of its intention to replace the existing legal tender to ease the suffering of the people.
Akogun Lere Oyewumi however suggested that the bill should have limited the tenure of governor and deputy governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to a single non-renewal term of five years but supported the proposed six years in the bill. Akogun Oyewumi argued that practical evidence has shown that a single non-renewal term for governors and deputies of the CBN will help to reduce political influence on monetary policy decisions.
Signed:
Media Unit,
Office Of The Deputy Minority Leader Of The Senate