Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said his recent public outbursts over purportedly unremitted monies from the sale of crude oil by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is targeted at entrenching corporate governance in the Nigerian system.
Sanusi said corporate governance entrenchment will ensure accountability and transparency for the sustenance of the values for the common goal and benefits of mankind.
Sanusi had last year written a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, accusing the NNPC of failure to account for $49.8bn accruing from the sale of crude oil.
Only on Tuesday, he said the NNPC was yet to remit $20 billion to the Federation Account and not the $10.8 billion earlier reported.
The foregoing has raised a public debate over inconsistency in the figures he is stating, as some highly placed officials inside governments oil establishment are saying he lacks understanding of petroleum auditing processes.
But Sanusi said Tuesday night in Lagos that it is not that he loves controversy but it his desire to entrench corporate governance in the Nigerian system.
According to him the so called controversy will lead to improved governance in the oil sector, as well as other sectors and enhance transparency in the country.
“A lot of the noise that is happening in the country today around me and the oil sector is good for the country because at the end of the day, this leads to improved governance over oil revenues, this will lead to improved transparency. This will lead to people having to be called to explain what they have done with money. That is good for the system. People must not see controversy and noise as necessarily bad”, he said.
Speaking at the Standard Bank’s West Africa investors conference, Sanusi encouraged investors to invest in the country with the capital market, fixed income market and even look at the fundamentals of this economy including resources, human capital, demography, improving government and democracy among others.
He told investors that the CBN is committed to exchange rate stability and that stability is what is going to continue in the future.
He added “We don’t want people to come to the market wondering if the naira is going to be on a free fall. We do not guarantee that if oil prices crash there will be no exchange rate movement. Excellent that we have stable oil price, stable output, stable macro conditions, we are committed to exchange rate stability and that stability is what is going to continue in the future.
Concerning GDP rebasing, Sanusi said investment in the right areas and structural reforms are far more important than the top GDP numbers. “I am not one of those carried away by GDP
rebasing because ultimately whatever numbers you have on GDP as they say, how does it affect the lives of people?” He disclosed that on Valentine’s day the CBN will be launching its unique personal identification system, a biometric solution that will allow it “fix a problem that we have not been able to solve decades”.
By: HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE
