A member of the House of Representatives, Sergius Ose Ogun has called for the sack and prosecution of Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Godwin Emefiele over an alleged violation of the CBN Act 2007.
Ogun made the call during Wednesday’s plenary and expressed concerns over the Federal Government excessive loans and its rising debt profile which stood N33.11 trillion as of March 2021, according to the Debt Management Office (DMO).
He stated that the CBN in the past six years have been in flagrant breach of Section 38 of the CBN Act, 2007.
“Worried that within the first six months of 2022, the Federal Government has borrowed a total of N2.4 trillion from the Central Bank of Nigeria which is far above five percent of the Federal Government’s revenue for 2021, which stood at N3.9 trillion,” Ogun said.
The lawmaker stated further that Section 38 of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007 permits it to grant loan advances to the Federal Government in respect of temporary deficiency of budget of budget.
“Section 38 of the CBN Act provides that loans shall be repaid by the Federal Government the same financial year it was granted, if the government fails to repay the loan as stipulated, the powers of the Central Bank of Nigeria to grant further loans to the Federal Government shall not be exercised,” he added.
Ogun noted that Sections 88 (1) and (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) empowers the National Assembly to conduct investigations into the activities of any authority executing or administering laws made by the National Assembly.
He, therefore, resolved to urge the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to immediately remove Mr. Godwin Emefiele from office as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria for violating the provisions of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007; also urge the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to immediately prosecute Mr. Godwin Emefiele for violating the provisions of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007 and mandate the Committee on Banking and Currency to ensure compliance and report back within four (4) weeks for further legislative action.
