The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, has asked the National Assembly to
reduce the powers of the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Kemi Adeosun made the call when she received members of the House of
Representatives Tactical Committee on Recession led by Bode Ayorinde in
her office yesterday March 21st.
According to Adeosun, the enormous powers given to CBN governors have
resulted in the some of the financial crisis witnessed over time. She
added that the excessive powers have caused some of the CBN governors in
time past to act on financial matters without recourse to the minister
of finance, who according to her is constitutionally required to
supervise financial policies, programmes and activities of the Federal
Government.
“I want to correct the impression that the CBN is under us. They are
not. Unfortunately, a law was passed, making them independent and giving
them more powers. This has resulted in one person having so much power.
In the time of Prof. Charles Soludo as CBN governor, he went to the
National Assembly asking for more powers and you can see where that has
taken us to. So we are back to the legislature to help us correct this
problem of too much power. As a result, there are no checks and
balances” she said