Eunice Afolabi
The Nigerian Senate has commenced plans to separate duties of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from the chairman of the board of the financial institution with the appointment of the latter to head the position.
According to the The CBN Act No. 7 of 2007, an incumbent governor of the CBN should also serve as chairman of its board.
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Meanwhile, the Senate gave its nod to a bill, which seeks amendment to the Act and bars the governor from becoming the chairman of the board.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Umar Sadiq Suleiman, was passed after its second reading and wants the appointment of a person other than a sitting governor to be the chairman of the board.
The bill also strives to deprive the board of powers to determine and fix the salaries and allowances of its members and to consider and approve the yearly budget of the bank.
Umar explained that apex banks across the globe have different persons as chief executive and chairman of the board.
“This bill, as clearly stated, seeks to divest the governor of CBN of chairmanship of the board, as obtainable in other countries of the world.
“A different person with requisite qualification and required knowledge on monetary and financial policies should be made chairman of the board,” he said.
Furthermore, the Senate passed a bill amending the Court of Appeal Act, 2013, to increase the number of Justices of the Court of Appeal from 90 to 110.
This fulfills the adoption of the report of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human rights, and Legal Matters by the Chairman of the Committee, Bamidele Opeyemi.
Opeyemi, Stated that the bill, sponsored by Chukwuka would guarantee that the court has the requisite manpower to facilitate operations of all its divisions.
He said: “This is necessary to eliminate delay in justice delivery systems, as it relates to the adjudicatory powers of the court.
“This proposed amendment, undoubtedly, is targeted at increasing the two workloads of the court and enhancing its effective performance.”
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