The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently give presidential assent to three bills passed by the National Assembly concerning Financial Sector Strategy 2020 (FSS 2020).
The CBN is particularly worried that the bills may be given less attention than they deserve because they were passed during the last days of the last National Assembly.
CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele who amde the appeal during the e-Government Summit 2015 in Abuja, lamented that the bills had over-stayed their welcome on the floor of the National Assembly.
Represented by the apex bank’s Deputy Governor (Operations), Alhaji Suleiman Barau on the occasion, he said the bills had for seven years been at the National Assembly, adding that the president’s quick assent to the bills will “pave the way for the establishment of the Nigerian International Financial Centre and other ancillary requirements in line with international best practice.”
Emefiele said the CBN was ready “to support the e-governance project in Nigeria as way of deepening payment system in the country as well, as help enthrone transparency and accountability. It is in this light that the CBN has been supportive of the FSS2020 project as a way of establishing an international financial centre in Abuja with all the benefits accruable from the establishment like the Dubai model.”
The CBN described the three bills as unique because of the number of years they had spent at the National Assembly, saying the CBN therefore ”plead with Mr. President to take time out and look at the bills and give them his assent because they will help to move this country forward.”
Also at the ceremony, Anambra State Governor, Mr. Willy Obiano said the deployment of information communication technology (ICT) in the state’s governance structure had boosted its internally generated revenue (IGR) from N500 million monthly to N1.4 billion. He urged the Federal Government and states of the federation to borrow a leaf from the Anambra experiment.
He said the move has also helped the state to fight crime, improve its security network and manage workforce by building a comprehensive data bank for the state. – The Nation.
