Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has disclosed that the country’s foreign reserve has risen from about $30bn in 2009 to $49.3bn.
Sanusi disclosed this at the commendation ceremony organised by House Committee on Finance, chaired by Abdulmumin Jibrin. The commendation ceremony was organised for CBN, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) in recognition of their full statutory Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) into the Consolidated Revenue Account, as provided by Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007.
As at January this year, we have brought down inflation to 9 per cent from 16 per cent in 2009. In February, it was 9.5 per cent and we expect it to go back to 9 per cent in March,” he said.
“As at today, the reserve of the Federation stands at $49.3bn up from about $30bn in 2009. The foreign exchange market has been stable for the last two, three years and the banking system has been fixed. So in terms of the core mandates of the CBN, we have been able to do to our best.”
Explaining the sources of revenue of the bank, Sanusi explained that the apex bank has been making a lot of money when the economy is facing difficulties.
“It is strange but that is when banks come to us to borrow money and we charge them interest,” he said. “That is also when the exchange rate is under pressure and we make profit on the dollars that we hold. So, as we fix the problems of the economy, we end up making less money.
Lamido Sanusi, CBN Governor; Musa Mayaki, acting NTA Director-General; and Osita Chidoka, FRSC Corps Marshal, received the commendation on behalf of their agancies.
Abdulmumin Jibrin, chairman of the House Committee on Finance explained that the commendation was in recognition of the compliance of the bodies with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007.
While CBN remitted a total of N216.9bn for the period under review into the consolidated Revenue Account, NTA remitted N1.8bn and paid a debt of N1.4bn to the Debt Management Office. The FRSC remitted N4.9bn.
Jubrin disclosed that the CBN had previously paid a total of N186.9bn and recently added another N30bn, saying “the CBN has consistently been the largest contributor to the nations IGR and it is not a revenue regeneration agency.”
Jibrin praised the agencies’ dedication and commitment to national growth and development.
“This is the mark of responsible public institutions and should be commended by all of us?” he said. “These agencies have continued to be important MDAs in the economy of the country. The parliament does not give out instrument in terms of award, but you have been fully commended.”
According to him, out of 70 agencies sampled, almost all had one excuse or the other for not remitting their IGR into the CRF and out of the over 600 agencies meant to do such, the three agencies being commended stood out.
He consequently berated NNPC for its poor showing in terms of remittances, adding that the committee had been waiting patiently for the Group Managing Director to make an appearance to explain their position.
“While others are being commended, we are still on them trying to see where our money has gone.” He said.
“We are convinced that these three agencies that chose to do the right thing, CBN, FRSC and NTA could have given excuses. If they all chose to behave like the NNPC what would we have been talking about right now?
“It is to the credit of not only the Committee on Finance, but also the Speaker of the House. Since we embarked on this exercise, they have been under a lot of pressure by agencies that we are investigating and who did not want to comply with the law.
“We had deficit of over N1 trillion when we were examining the MTEF we had to look inwards. I believe we have enough money in the system to fund our budget yet almost all the agencies we investigated were in default.”
In his response, Musa Mayaki, NTA acting DG expressed delight at the commendation for NTA and said it was not an accident, as the television has been known to promote the rule of law and the unity of the country. He promised that the organization will continue to work in that direction.
Osita Chidoka, FRSC Corps Marshal, expressed happiness that for the first time, the FRSC was not appearing before the House to answer queries.
“What the committee has done has restored my hope in the legislature,” he said. “It’s a landmark event. Since 1999, we have been remitting 100 recent and this did not start with me. It’s because of the organizational culture.”
