Business
In New CBN Law, Senate Pegs 6 Years-single Term For Governor
In a new law been propose, the National Assembly is seeking to make the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor’s tenure six year of one term.
The amendment of the CBN Act 2007, will foreclose a renewable term of the head of the apex bank and make it a single term of six years.
The national assembly through the Senate is also proposing N1 Trillion recapitalization for commercial banks which presently stands at N100 billion.
As the Senate moves for sweeping reforms in the organisation, administration and function of CBN through an amendment bill read for second reading in plenary on Tuesday, its committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, screened nominees for board of Directors of the Bank.
Proposal for six year single term for CBN Governor, Deputy Governors and members of board of Directors, was contained in a bill seeking for amendment of CBN Act 2007 and sponsored by Adetokunbo Abiru (APC Lagos East) in his capacity as Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking.
Abiru in his lead debate on the bill co – sponsored by 41 other members of the committee , said six years single term for CBN Governor , Deputy Governors and board of Directors , said it was geared towards reducing political influence on them .
“The Bill proposes to amend this provision to provide a single non-renewal term of 6 years for the Governor and the Deputy Governors.
“This is the practice adopted by many independent Banks such as the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank where their Chief Executive Officers serve only one non-renewable term.
” Empirical evidence shows that a single term for the members of the Executive and Board members of central banks helps to reduce political influence on monetary policy decisions and the time inconsistency problem associated with non-independent central banks,” he said.
On N1 Trillion recapitalization, Abiru in the bill said the proposal seeks to provide that the paid-up capital of the Bank shall be 1 Trillion Naira and may be increased from time to time by such amount as the Government may approve either by way of transfers from the General Reserve Fund or by such other means as the Government, in consultation with the Board, may approve.
The bill also seeks for creation of Coordinating Committee for Monetary and Fiscal Policies since the extant act made no provision for such.
He said: “The current Act made no provision for coordination of monetary and fiscal policies which is the reason that monetary policies of the Bank often diverge from fiscal policies to the detriment of the economy.
“To this end, the Bill introduces for the purpose of coordination of the monetary, fiscal and trade policies, a Coordinating Committee for Monetary and Fiscal Policies.
“The functions of the Committee shall include: setting internally consistent targets of monetary and fiscal policies that are conducive to controlling inflation and promoting financial conditions for sustainable economic growth; Applying caps to any fiscal deficit at a level that can be financed without having recourse to direct monetary financing from the Bank etc.
It also seeks to regulate the issuance of Ways and Means by CBN to the Federal Government .
Specifically as proposed in the bill, while the current CBN Act, empowers the CBN to grant temporary advances to the Federal Government to finance unexpected shortfall in budget revenue without stated time frame , the proposed law wants the advance not to exceed five per cent of the previous year’s actual revenue of the Federal Government and it is to be paid back at the end of the financial year in which it was granted.
“In order to firm up this provision and prevent a repeat of the recent experience in which the Bank’s Ways and Means have fueled inflation and significantly distorted economic management, the Bill proposes the following: any such direct advance to the Government should not exceed 10% of average government actual revenues during the preceding three years.
“For the purpose of determining the government’s actual government revenue, proceeds from asset sales shall be excluded to avoid capturing revenues from exceptional items.
“Such temporary loans should be repaid in full within three months from the date it is made available. This is consistent with global practice.
“The current provision which stipulates before the end of the fiscal year is prone to abuse as it creates a window for the government to obtain overdrafts from the Bank in January and wait until December to make repayment.
“In order to minimize default risk, any sum which becomes outstanding at the end of the expiration of the credit period should be held against and recovered from the proportion of the Federal Government’s FAAC Receipts”, he explained.
Members of Board of CBN Directors screened on Tuesday were Mr. Robert Agbede, Mr. Ado Yakubu Wanka and Mrs Muslimat Olanike Aliyu.
Nigerian carrier, Air Peace, has clarified why its Benin to Abuja flight P47171 was delayed in the air on Friday.
In a statement issued by the Head of Corporate Communications, Ejike Ndiulo, Air Peace Airline on Saturday stated that during the aircraft’s descent into Abuja, the flight encountered turbulence as a result of adverse weather conditions, including thunderstorms.
The statement further stressed that in line with global aviation safety standards, “our crew activated appropriate safety protocols and held in a holding pattern until weather conditions improved.”
Social media users complained on Saturday that the aircraft hung in the air longer than necessary before landing.
Elanza news understands that when an aircraft is held in a holding pattern, this means the plane was instructed to fly a specific course around a designated point while waiting for permission from the control tower to proceed with its planned route, approach, or landing.
This is often due to factors like traffic congestion at the given airport, weather delays, or other operational issues that could result in an incident or accident if the aircraft had landed against instructions.
In simpler terms, a holding pattern is a temporary waiting area for an aircraft in the air, allowing it to remain airborne while awaiting further instructions for landing.
The statement further stated, “We are pleased to confirm that the aircraft landed safely and the passengers disembarked normally. Air Peace is unwavering in its commitment to ensuring the highest standards of safety across all our operations.”
IMF to FG: Enhance transparency in oil sector, contain borrowing
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has advised Nigeria to enhance transparency in the oil sector to ensure that the subsidy removal savings are transferred to the government’s budget.
Abebe Selassie, the director of the African department at the IMF, gave the advice on Friday while presenting the findings of the Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa report at the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington, DC, the United States.
Selassie was responding to questions on the federal government’s reforms and Nigeria’s debt profile, which currently sits at N142.3 trillion as at September 2024.
Speaking to journalists, the director said the fund has been very impressed by the reforms Nigeria has undertaken to address microeconomic imbalances in the country.
The director said the subsidy was taking “a very large” share of the limited tax revenues, which was not effectively used to help the most vulnerable people.
“So it’s been really good to see the government taking these head on, and also beginning to roll out the third component of the reforms that we’ve been advocating for, [that] government has been pursuing, which is to expand social protection to target generalised subsidies to help the most vulnerable,” he said.
“This has all been very good to see, but more can be done, particularly on the latter front: expanding social protection and also enhancing a lot more transparency in the oil sector, so that the removal of subsidies does translate into flow of revenue into government budget.
“So, there’s still a bit more work to do in these areas.”
Selassie disclosed that the IMF had a mission in Nigeria, where discussions with the authorities focused on issues related to the nation’s macroeconomic conditions.
Still, the director advised the federal government to consider reforms in other areas to engender more private sector investment, and also how more resources can be “adopted” to help Nigeria generate the revenues needed to build more schools, universities, and infrastructure.
“So there’s a comprehensive set of reforms that Nigeria can pursue that would help engender more growth and help diversify the economy away from reliance on oil,”
“And this diversification is all the more important given what we’re seeing happening to commodity prices.”
Selassie acknowledged that while the government is undertaking reforms, there will be a financing need.
He urged the authorities to adopt “a judicious and agile” way of dealing with the financing challenges the country faces.
The IMF official said Nigeria’s financing gap “can only be filled” by permanent sources such as revenue mobilisation in the long run.
“But in the interim, carefully looking at all of the options the country has to borrow in a contained way, will be part of that solution,” he said.
“And I think the government has been going about this prudently and cautiously so far, and we’re encouraged by that.”
In January, the Debt Management Office(DMO) said the total domestic debt was N73.4 trillion ($45.8 billion) while the total external debt was N68.8 trillion ($43 billion).
The debt body said the increase was primarily due to rising domestic borrowing and the impact of exchange rate depreciation on external debt when converted to naira terms.
The Federal Government is set to launch the National Agribusiness Policy Mechanism (NAPM) to strengthen agricultural productivity, stabilise food prices, and drive economic growth.
The NAPM is part of broader initiatives aimed at transforming the country’s agricultural sector through data-driven policies and public-private partnerships.
Speaking on Friday in Abuja during a meeting of the Presidential Food Systems Coordinating Unit (PFSCU) Steering Committee at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Vice President Kashim Shettima said the initiative will align agricultural efforts across all government tiers through real-time data analytics.
“The Green Imperative Project (GIP) is an idea whose time has come. It has been in the incubation period for several years, and now it is coming to fruition; we have to get it right.
“We have had many interventions in this country in the past. We must make this work, and it’s the states that will drive the process,” the Vice President said.
Signed between Nigeria and Brazil on March 17, 2025, the Green Imperative Project (GIP) is a $1.1 billion initiative aimed to modernise 774 mid-sized Nigerian farms with Brazilian agricultural technologies, creating jobs and boosting productivity across the nation.
VP Shettima further said President Bola Tinubu has approved ₦15 billion for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to prepare for floods as the rainy season kicks in.
“This is one of the first proactive decisions by the government to prepare for the flooding season,” the Vice President noted.
Earlier, the Technical Assistant to the President on Agriculture and Executive Secretary of PFSCU, Marion Moon, explained that NAPM aims to address challenges of high food inflation and agricultural yields that lag 60 per cent behind global averages.
She revealed that the pilot survey for NAPM has been completed across 13 states, with a full launch planned for June 2025.
The NAPM, supported by data analytics partnerships and a digital platform under development, is designed to tackle food inflation, inefficient subsidies, and outdated farming practices, to give the country a unified framework to optimise public spending and drive sustainable rural development.
Those present at the meeting included Governors of Jigawa State, Umar Namadi, and Ekiti State, Biodun Oyebanji; Deputy Governors of Borno State, Umar Kadafur, and Ebonyi State, Patricia Onyemaechi Obila.
Others are Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari; Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Aliyu Abdullahi; Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance; heads of agriculture and manufacturing private sector players, and international development partners.