Senate strips CBN governor of board chair, boosts A’Court justices from 90 to 110

Senate has set in motion the removal of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor as board chairman of the financial institution.
The CBN Act No. 7 of 2007 stipulates that an incumbent governor of the CBN should also serve as chairman of its board.

But the Senate, yesterday, gave its nod to a bill, which seeks amendment of the Act and bars the governor from becoming the chairman of the board.

The bill, sponsored by Senator Umar Sadiq Suleiman (APC, Kwara North), was passed after its second reading, and seeks appointment of a person other than a sitting governor to be the chairman of the board.

The bill also seeks to divest the board of powers to determine and fix salaries and allowances of its members, and consider and approve the yearly budget of the bank. Umar, in his lead debate, said apex banks across the globe have different persons as chief executive and chairman of 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.

ALSO, 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 followed adoption of the report of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and legal Matters by Chairman of the Committee, Bamidele Opeyemi (APC, Ekiti).

Opeyemi, in his lead debate, said the bill, sponsored by Chukwuka Utazi (PDP, Enugu), would ensure that the court has 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 work load of the court and enhancing its effective performance.”