Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Lamido Sanusi Lamido is an economist with bias for political turbulence, the Federal House of Representatives said on Thursday.
The lower legislative chamber was responding to Sanusi’s call, earlier in the week, for the sack of 50 per cent of federal civil servants and members of the National Assembly.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja, Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Victor Ogene argued that since only 5,023 workers were in the bank’s service when Sanusi ascended its helm three years ago, he should start the reform within CBN by cutting down on its current staff strength of 6,015 people.
He observed that CBN currently has over 20 directors plus overhead of over N300bn while that of National Assembly, over which Sanusi has been complaining, is only N150bn despite that the Assembly itself has civil servants working for it.
He dismissed Sanusi’s call for sack of workers with a wave of the hand, saying such move would only worsen rising unemployment levels in the country.
Speaking further, Ogene lamented that Sanusi’s comment is coming at a time when government is battling to create employment for the large unemployed population.
“The Act establishing the Central Bank of Nigeria is not superior to the Constitution of the Central Bank,” he said, adding that efforts are already afoot to amend certain Acts in order to reduce the powers of some revenue-collecting agencies of the Federal Government.”
Speaking on other matters, Ogene expressed the unhappiness of the lower chamber with the implementation of the 2012 budget and the slow pace of releases by the Ministry of Finance. He expressed worries that of the N1.3tr, only N1.1trn has thus far been released, leaving a balance of N200bn, which is the equivalent of 75 per cent of the budget.
He revealed that National Assembly is currently discussing with the Ministry of Finance on the possibility and appropriateness of carrying over the 2012 budget to March 2013 in order to ensure full implementation. He revealed, too, that the House will continue to intensify efforts to ensure the passage of the 2013 budget before the Christmas/New Year break.
Ogene confirmed that the House spokesman had adjourned plenary till 11th December 2012 so that committees have adequate time to conduct budget defence and complete their works before proceeding on yuletide break.
