The Central Bank of Nigeria has denied N200bn it allegedly advanced to the Nigerian Export Import Bank as stabilisation fund.
At a session with the House of Representatives Committee on Banking/Currency chaired by Mr. Chukwudi Jones-Onyereri in Abuja, the Acting Governor of the CBN, Mrs. Sarah Alade, denied that the bank gave any such money to NEXIM Bank.
“We have not given NEXIM Bank even N2bn, let alone N200bn,” she told lawmakers while responding to a specific question by the Deputy Chairman of the committee, Mr. Haruna Manu.
Our correspondent gathered that the lawmakers tackled the CBN acting governor on the matter following an allegation by the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties that NEXIM received the money and misapplied it.
The CNPP had fingered the Managing Director of NEXIM Bank, Mr. Robert Orya, for the alleged misapplication of the stabilisation fund.
A statement by CNPP’s Secretary-General, Chief Willy Ezugwu, in Abuja last week had drawn public attention to the issue.
The body, among others, demanded the suspension of the managing director and urged the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and the CBN governor to probe the alleged misapplication of the N200bn by Orya.
“The CNPP has sent out alert on this matter to investigate and compile all his alleged administrative and financial infractions. The CNPP intends to hold a round-table discussion with our civil society partners on this matter in the next two weeks with a view to devising strategies to ensure that justice is done,” the body’s statement read in part.
However, Alade expressed surprise when the House committee raised the issue with her at the meeting in Abuja.
She told the committee that the central bank also heard about the CNPP allegation in the media just like the committee members did.
