President Bola Tinubu has been told to stop the idea of adding the role of overseeing the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to his presidential duties as such an arrangement will make it difficult for the country to hold the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, accountable.
Team@orientactualmags.com learned that Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi said this while giving his speech during the Bank Directors Summit organized by the Bank Directors Association of Nigeria in Abuja on Thursday.
Sanusi , who was the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria from June 2009 to February 2014, was removed as Emir of Kano in March 2020 .
He has described the NNPCL as the ‘most opaque oil company in the world’ condemning the organization for allegedly failing to remit enough foreign exchange into the government coffers despite the removal of fuel subsidy by the current administration.
He also emphasized the need to stabilize the foreign exchange market, noting that monetary policies in the last eight years had led to rising inflation and economic downturn in the country.
The idea of having the president as petroleum minister will according to him make it difficult for anyone to raise the question of accountability.
Recall that the immediate past president, General Muhammadu Buhari, also served as Minister of Petroleum Resources for eight years.
‘The exchange rate needs to be stabilized and we have to address the fundamental question, why is there no money coming in? Why is the NNPCL not able to bring in dollars? Am sorry this is the question that cost me my job and I will continue asking this question until NNPCL fixes it up or until I die. Where are the dollars? We need to shine a light on the NNPCL. The finance minister cannot tell you because he doesn’t have a monitoring system that reports to him. The finance minister can’t tell you how many barrels of petrol we produce and export. It is only the NNPCL that can give those figures. The finance ministry needs to know how much oil we produce daily, how much we sell, and where the money is going.
We are no longer paying subsidies so where are the dollars? It was under recovery during the subsidy era and that has been stopped, so where is the money? This was the issue I raised for which I was suspended, well you can suspend me again. The NNPCL is the most opaque oil company in the world. When I was in the central bank for 15 years, they had not been audited. We have to follow the money from production to export to return, where is the money going? We paid N11tn in subsidy and there is no accountability up till now. The National Assembly called the NNPCL to bring the documents, but they refused.
By the way, let me give this advice that the idea of the President serving as petroleum minister is not a good idea. The last president was the minister of petroleum for eight years. When I was governor of the Central Bank we had a minister of petroleum so when I talk about the NNPCL, I could attack Diezani Madueke. Now, nobody can talk about petroleum because for eight years if you talk, you are attacking the president. We need that buffer, somebody has to be there, so a minister has to be there who is held accountable by Nigerians’ he said.
Recall that President Bola Tinubu had in August this year unbundled the Ministry of Petroleum Resources with the appointment of Ekperipe Ekpo as Minister of State, Gas Resources; and Heineken Lokpobiri as Minister of State, Petroleum Resources while however making himself the Minister of Petroleum Resources .
Sanusi has also called for proper auditing in order to know certain things at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited including the country’s daily oil production, export and the accrued revenue, noting that this call was what cost him his job at the apex bank.
The banking sector must according to him shore up its trust deficit in the eyes of the public while adding that there is no need to amend the CBN Act to keep the apex bank free of political influences.
‘It is important to talk about the current conversation emanating especially from the National Assembly, to amend the Central Bank Act. Let me add my voice to those who have said there is nothing wrong with the Central Bank of Nigeria Act. There is nothing wrong with BOFIA. The CBN Act is one of the best central banking laws in the world. In fact when we reviewed central bank laws, the only laws we saw that we would learn a few things from was Bank Negara of Malaysia.
Now, if people who are supposed to implement a law don’t implement it, the solution is not to change the law, and this reaction is kneejerk if you take away the independence of the central bank and bring it under political control. You would hurt the system and on long-term, you are institutionalizing the lack of autonomy. The reality is, you have an independent autonomous central bank whose independence was undermined by a combination of politicians and central bank actors. It is time to go back to what the central bank is supposed to do and implement the law’ he submitted.
‘Look at the example of Ways and Means. That scenario only happened because, along the line, all checks and balances collapsed. When the National Assembly talks about Ways and Means, the question is: where were the oversight committees of the National Assembly? We were all asked when we were in position as governor to bring money, on several occasions. There was a day I was called by the finance minister that they needed N100bn. I told them they had reached the limit and we had to find other solutions to raise funds for the government without breaking the law.
If this tells anything, it is that when people start to complain about too many regulations, they need to think about when regulation was rolled back in America. Regulations are dynamic and can change. We have to ensure that banks are well-managed and that banks understand the risks that they run. Now, regulations are one thing of course and the actual doing of the regulations is another thing’ he added.
President Bola Tinubu, who was represented by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, has however restated his administration’s vision to drive financial access and impose a culture of integrity and innovative technology, while promising to ensure that the CBN follows all regulations.
‘All issues raised from regulations, short-term liquidity in the foreign exchange market to long-term structural change, I can say that all those issues are being dealt with in the policies of the current administration. We will ensure to follow the law and do the right thing but it won’t all be done in one day. It is a direction of travel but it will take time to adjust.
Finance banking is inherently risky and the dynamic nature of the challenges we face makes it imperative for us to collectively address them together, balancing the complexities of regulation and compliance in order to build the type of resilient system that would underpin the eventual rule to rapid, sustained and inclusive economic growth.
All efforts are being made to bring in funds that will shore up the liquidity of the financial system of the foreign exchange system’ he said.
Also speaking, the Chairman, Bank Directors Association of Nigeria, Mustafa Chike-Obi, said ‘This summit was focused on advocating for the banks’ interests and making sure they are willing partners.
This summit is a good platform to advocate for the interest of the banks, to make sure the banks are doing the right things and make sure they are a willing partner. The banks will be willing and able to partner with the government on these agendas of growth and reforms.
We will work with you but we ask that you should please consult with us. The era of regulations without consultations should end. We are partners and if you consult with us, we will tell you how to accomplish the objectives more smoothly and cleanly’ he said-Team@orientactualmags.com Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08059100286, 09094171980. Thank you
