NIGERIA/FILE: Human rights lawyer critcises suspension of Nigerian central bank governor

Record ID: 236324

  • Title: NIGERIA/FILE: Human rights lawyer critcises suspension of Nigerian central bank governor
  • Date: 20th February 2014
  • Summary: BAYELSA, NIGERIA (FILE) (REUTERS) RESIDENTS LOOKING AT DRUMS AND JERRY CANS FILLED WITH CRUDE OIL CONTAINERS FILLED WITH CRUDE OIL RESIDENTS GATHERED AROUND CONTAINERS FILLED WITH CRUDE OIL JERRY CANS FILLED WITH CRUDE OIL WOMAN DIPPING ARM IN LARGE CONTAINER FILLED WITH CRUDE OIL CONTAINERS FILLED WITH CRUDE OIL
  • Embargoed: 7th March 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVADTNAYC1CRANT6G7CR3B0CCZU0
  • Story Text: Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan suspended Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi on Thursday (February 20), removing an increasingly outspoken critic of the government's record on tackling rampant corruption in Africa's leading energy producer.
    Currency, bond and money markets stopped trading because of the uncertainty created by the suspension. Trading in the naira currency resumed after the central bank intervened with dollar sales, by which time debt markets were closed.
    The intervention enabled the naira to rebound from a record low of 169 to the dollar to 165, dealers said, its biggest one day swing since a December 2009 devaluation.
    Sanusi, who was due to hand over the reigns in June, had been presenting evidence to parliament that he said showed the state oil company Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) failed to remit $20 billion that it owed to federal government coffers.
    The allegations sparked a spectacular political row with the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, a year out from the country's next election.
    Human rights lawyer Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa criticised Jonathan's decision and urged the president to detail the reasons why Sanusi was suspended.
    "I believe that the president has not given us the true reason behind the suspension of the central Bank governor, I have listened to him through out the period of the public hearing by the senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in respect of the probe of the missing oil revenue and he insisted that his records show clearly that 20 billion dollars of our money cannot be accounted for by the Central Bank of Nigeria. He indeed was the one that blew the lid over the fact that subsidy was still being paid on kerosene when the president had given a directive that they should not be paid and that those subsidies where not captured in the 2013 budget. So I believe that the president and the powers that be, who are responsible for this financial recklessness must have been fazed and gotten scared by the consistency and the boldness of Lamido Sanusi Lamido to continually demand for financial accountability," he said.
    Ebun-Olu has previously led protests against the Lagos state government and big business.
    He questions the motivation behind Sanusi's suspension, saying the timing was off and sends the wrong message.
    "I think it's coming at the wrong time, sending wrong signals, this is a man who is supposed to retire or resign in another 3 months by June, because his tenure is supposed to expire and he has indicated unlike other Nigerians that he was not interested in seeking a second term or reappointment which is an indication of his selflessness, indication of his probity, because if indeed he had anything to hide, he would have loved to remain in office to cover up his tracks. So I believe that Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, if I follow his history from First Bank of Nigeria, where he served as a director, until he became the Managing Director, everybody has said that he was a man who is in charge of risk control and that he had no blemish at all in his record. So the president will have to work hard to convince Nigerians and indeed myself that this suspension is timely, is right, and meets the purpose of taking our economy to the next level," the lawyer said.
    Analysts predicted that foreign investors would now be active sellers of assets in Africa's second biggest economy, just when it had been attracting more interest than ever for the huge potential of its 170 million population and a backlog of work needed to update its inadequate infrastructure.
    NNPC, the oil company at the centre of the row, has repeatedly denied Sanusi's claims.
    Deputy Governor Sarah Alade was appointed acting governor, presidential spokesman Reuben Abati said on Thursday.
    Jonathan nominated the managing director of Zenith Bank Godwin Emefiele to be next central bank governor. If Emefiele wins the Senate's approval, he will start in June, when Sanusi's term would have expired, the head of its finance committee Senator Ahmed Makarfi told Reuters.
    Sanusi, a career banker, earned a reputation as a monetary policy hawk while governor from June 2009 - raising interest rates, tightening liquidity and aggressively defending the naira with frequent foreign exchange auctions.
    The governor's suspicion of massive fraud at the heart of one of the world's most opaque national oil companies - in a country where oil provides 90 percent of foreign exchange and around 80 percent of government revenues - has brought him into conflict with the administration of President Jonathan a year before elections.
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