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  • Commonwealth award for midwives

    Midwives under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Office; Midwives’ Service Scheme, have been awarded this year’s Commonwealth award.

    The prize; Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management (CAPAM) award on Innovations in Government Services and Programmes, was presented to Nigeria at CAPAM meeting in New Delhi, India.

    The scheme funded by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs, Dr. Precious Gbeneol, was jointly implemented by the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA).

    Under the scheme, unemployed and retired midwives were recruited for deployment to primary health centres in rural communities. Nigeria beat Australia and Canada to clinch the award.

    In a statement in Abuja, the Deputy Director, Information of OSSAP-MDGs, Kene Offie, said the initiative was launched in 2009 to support the country to tackle poor maternal and child healthcare.

     

  • Appeal Court upholds Ekwunife’s election

    The Appeal Court sitting in Enugu yesterday reaffirmed the re-election of Uche Ekwunife of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) as the member representing Anaocha/Dunukofia/Njikoka Federal Constituency of Anambra State in the House of Representatives.

    The five-man appeal panel, headed by Justice Lokulo Sodikpe, upheld the verdict of the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in Awka, the state capital.

    The tribunal had dismissed the petition by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) candidate, Mr. Dozie Nwankwo, in the rerun in some wards in the constituency.

    Justice Sodikpe upheld the ruling by the lower tribunal on the grounds that the petitioner could not prove his case beyond reasonable doubts.

    He awarded a N30,000 cost and N40,000 against the petitioner.

    Justice Sodikpe averred that Nwankwo could not prove the allegation of electoral malpractices and the alleged inability to meet up with electoral act leveled against Ekwunife.

    He said: “The law is straight-forward. The appellant’s claim that his case was not properly treated based on evidence and witness are incorrect because the appellant could not provide proper evidence that his claims were correct but relied on the witness of the PW17.”

  • Tokyo hails police chief

    The Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Oyo State, Alhaji Lateef Akinsola, a.k.a. Tokyo, has praised the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joseph Mbu, for maintaining law and order since his appointment.

    Akinsola hailed the police commissioner for averting a bloody clash among members of the union’s caretaker committee, which the courts have declared illegal.

    He said he had been vindicated on his claim that the illegal caretaker committee are being used by some politicians to settle scores and foment trouble.

    Akinsola denied any row with Mbu.

    He said: “On the contrary, I have great respect for the police commissioner and I am willing to co-operate with him.”

     

  • Oshiomhole decries doctors’ attitude to work

    Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole yesterday criticised the attitude of government doctors to work.

    He warned that the government would dismiss any doctor found wanting.

    Oshiomhole gave the warning at the Central Hospital in Benin, the state capital, when he paid a surprise visit to the hospital.

    He said: “Our hospitals are not supposed to be death centres, but healing centres. You are trained to save lives, but you preside over avoidable deaths by reason of your negligence. We will dismiss any doctor who is not ready to work.

    “Are we supposed to beg doctors to come to work? We have a contract. It is either you keep it or you go. We do not have all the resources we need, but we want value for the little we have.

    “If we do not have a hospital, we will tell our people, so that they can go to herbalists. But when you put a hospital signboard out there and there is no doctor to attend to the people, you give people the wrong impression. When they do not see a doctor in the hospital, the people will go to private hospitals.

    “Our people are already dying of negligence, so I am not bordered about the threat of strike. What has happened to our values? People who run down a state must not be allowed to thrive anywhere. I will make sure that those who sabotage government hospitals are not allowed to practice anywhere.”

    Oshiomhole, who was at the hospital at 8am, slammed the management for running the hospital for days without electricity.

  • How Electoral College decides who rules America, by expert

    How Electoral College decides who rules America, by expert

    Thomas Neale, a specialist in American national government at Congressional Research Service, the Library of Congress, in this interaction with reporters at the Foreign Press Centre in Washington, speaks on the role of the Electoral College in deciding America’s president. Excerpts:   

     

    Why does America have the Electoral College? The first question that may come to your mind is: Why do we have an Electoral College?  Remember, the United States Constitution is the oldest written constitution in the world.  It was drafted in the 18th century.  And as a result, it has perhaps fewer of the mass democratic features that you would expect from a constitution that derived, after – say, after the French Revolution or in the 20th century.

    What our Constitutional Convention was trying to get was a system that guaranteed the separation of powers, and checks and balances that kept the presidency free from undue influence, particularly with respect to its elections, from Congress, and three, gave the states a role in the presidential election.  To this day, Americans vote for president in two capacities: as U.S. citizens, and to a certain extent, as citizens of the states in which they reside, because that is how the electoral votes are put together, and that is how you win a majority in the Electoral College.

    The Constitution – the Constitutional Convention decided this was the best compromise because it included these principles.  It did not initially include any provision that the people would vote in a presidential election.  The electors would vote, and it was left to the states how they would choose their electors.  This power is retained by the states today, but all the states delegate that power to the citizens.  So your – when Americans go to the polls on election day, they are voting for, actually, electors for president and vice president.

    Who are these electors?

    Well, they can be anybody, except a person who is a member of Congress or any person who is – holds an office of – in trust or profit under the United States.  So Ms. Rider and I cannot serve as presidential electors, but almost anybody else could.  In practice, they tend to be party officials, state governors, prominent party people holding – that do not hold positions in the federal government.  How are they chosen?  Each party in each state nominates a slate of electors.  You never see their – in very few exceptions do you ever see their names on the ballot.  When Americans go to the polls, it says, “Electors for Barack Obama and Joseph Biden,” or “Electors for George Romney and Paul Ryan.”  But they are – so they are, in fact, voting for these electors.

    How many electors and how are they allocated?

    The formula is each state receives a total number of electoral votes equal to the combined total of its House and Senate delegations.  Now, the reason we have the Senate delegations included is because one of those compromises from the Constitutional Convention to give the states – the less populous states a modest advantage compared to the more populous states.  So today you have – the range runs from California, obviously our most populous state, which has 55 electoral votes because it has 53 representatives and two senators, to a number of states like Wyoming, Alaska, Delaware, Vermont, Montana, the Dakotas, that have three electoral votes.  They have one because they have one member in the House of Representatives, and the additional two for Congress.

    And these electoral votes are awarded in most states on what we call the winner-take-all or general ticket basis.  That is, the voters vote for the whole slate of candidates.  And this causes some distortions.  For instance, in California in recent years, the Republicans can reliably take anywhere from 40 to 45 percent of the popular vote, but they get no electoral votes because the Democrats have a strong grip on California, and a number of other states, too.  I picked California simply because it’s the most populous state.

    There are two exceptions to that rule, and that is called the district system, which is practised in Maine and Nebraska.  Now this harkens back to the fact that the states actually have a lot of independent authority about how they do – they delegate their electoral votes.  It’s a little complicated, but in these states that have the district plan, the voters go to the polls, one vote for president and vice president, but the votes are counted in two different ways.  They are counted statewide, and the statewide winner wins those two electoral votes that reflect their senators.  And then the votes are counted in each congressional district, and the winner in each congressional district gets an electoral vote.

    Why has this system endured as long as it has?

    Well, first of all, it’s worked pretty well.  More than 50 presidential elections that we’ve had, particularly since the ratification of the 12th Amendment in 1804, which I won’t go into unless you ask me to, we’ve had a pretty good record, 47 of 51.  This should make it 48 of 52 if everything works out, which is not bad in the greater scheme of things.  It’s not perfect.  Secondly, and perhaps equally important, if not more important, the Constitution of the United States is not easily amended.  In order to have an amendment, the most widely used of the two methods is that you must have an amendment proposed and approved by a two-thirds majority of the members of our two houses of Congress, and then – that is not sufficient in and of itself – then the amendment is sent forward to the states, and the states must – three-fourths of the states, and that’s 38 of the current number of states – I don’t think we’re going to be adding any anytime soon – must ratify it.

    If the Electoral College is so important and the voters don’t know who are the electors, is it an obstacle to transparency in the electoral system?

    From a very, very early time in this country, electors have been seen not to be independent agents, which is what the Founding Fathers thought they would be.  You see, there was no political community in the United States in 1787.  We had 13 colonies scattered up.  It took two months to travel by land from Boston to Georgia.  And they felt that – and there was no national press – they felt that the people themselves, the voters, would probably not have the sophistication to be able to discern national issues or national characters.  So, they would vote for the electors, who would be the landholders, the best and the brightest, the merchants, the bankers, and these people would make a disinterested selection.

    Well, it broke down almost immediately because even at that point in 1787 there was a drive towards democratisation, the frontier drive in America, as you will, and people said I don’t – and very early, in the early 19th century, one elector – can’t remember the name of the state or the elector or the person who said this, but an elector voted against instructions, and he said, “I don’t choose them to think; I choose them to act.”  So it is our tradition and has been for two centuries that the electors are the agents of the people, and they do the people’s will.

     

     

  • Car dealer shot dead in Onitsha

    Onitsha, the Anambra State commercial city, was panic-stricken yesterday as gun men killed a car dealer and kidnapped another.

    The attack took place at about 7.30 am at Modebe Avenue junction by St. John ’s Street.

    The car dealer victim was identified as Chief Emeka Ekwerendu.

    Divisional Police Officer, Central Police Station, Onitsha, Mr. Temitope Fasugba and Anambra Police spokesman Ralph Uzoigwe confirmed the incident.

    It was gathered that a four- man gang that operated in a light green Toyota Sienna car without a number-plate trailed their victim from a Catholic Church in Odo-Akpu after he dropped his children at a primary school in Onitsha before he was shot dead.

    An eyewitness said Ekwerendu was riding in his black Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) with registration number ABC 202AJ before the robbers shot at his tyres.

    His vehicle lost control and hit a parked vehicle before they shot him from behind.

    The way the robbers went to the car boot and made away with undisclosed huge sums of money made observers describe the scene as coordinated.

    The suspected robbers/kidnappers were armed with four AK 47 riffles. It was learn that they were shooting sporadically into the air to scare people away. They escaped through Anionwu Street when their victim was confirmed dead.

    Also yesterday a businessman was reportedly kidnapped in Fegge.

    The identity of the victim was not yet known, but an eyewitnesses said the victim was kidnapped on his way back from church.

     

  • Court to hear N855m share fraud case against Keystone Bank Nov. 27

    Court to hear N855m share fraud case against Keystone Bank Nov. 27

    Justice Habeeb Abiru of a Lagos High Court, Ikeja has fixed November 27 for the trial of Keystone Bank (formerly Bank PHB), three officials, an Indian and his company, Nulec Industries Limited alleged to have defrauded a businessman, Sir Daniel Chukwudozie of N855 million.

    They were arraigned on a two-count charge of conspiracy and obtaining money by false pretence by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    The defendants are Anayo Nwosu; Olajide Oshodi, Sunny Obazee, Bank PHB, Ashok Isran, an Indian who also has a Swiss citizenship, his company, Nulec Industries.

    According to the EFCC, the six defendants allegedly defrauded Chukwudozie of Dozzy Oil of N855 million.

    In his petition to the EFCC dated 1st March, 2012, signed on his behalf by his counsel, Mr P.I.N. Ikwueto, now before the court, Chukwudozie said he invested the huge sum in Nulec Industries Limited based on the assurances given by officials of the bank that the shares of the company will be listed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, one month after private placement and at a price not below N5.

    Chukwudozie said he later found that the private placement offer price was N2.85k and not N5 as claimed by the defendants.

    He also alleged that he was actually hoodwinked into parting with the large sum of money.

    He claimed that no Memorandum of Investment or any other information about the company was given to him when the transaction was made.

    “On the strength of the assurances by the bank, our client invited and persuaded his associates and close family members to also invest in the private placement aforesaid.”

    He said himself and other investors enlisted by him bought as much as 300 million units of shares valued at N855 million in Nulec.

    Chukwudozie alleged that further investigations revealed that Nulec was indebted to the defunct Bank PHB to the tune of N130 million.

    He said Nulec was similarly indebted to other banks, including FCMB, UBA, GTB, to the tune of N300 million.

    According to him, the volume of indebtedness of Nulec was not disclosed to him at the commencement of the transaction.

    He also alleged that the money raised from the public offer was wired overseas after Bank PHB deducted Nuclec’s indebtedness to the bank.

    Chukwudozie said visits to the headquarters of Nulec were on a number occasions rebuffed by its officials.

    Counsel to the 3rd defendant, Mr Uche Obi objected to the presence of a colleague, Mr Ugwunzor Adindu, saying he was not a counsel on record in the matter and that he should not be making comments as he lacked the standing to do so.

    But Adindu in his submission claimed to be the counsel to the MD of Dozzy Oil, the businessman who was allegedly duped by the bank and some of its officials.

     

  • Group seeks end to domestic violence

    Group seeks end to domestic violence

    A charitable organisation which supports and empowers victims of domestic violence, the Glowing Future, has called for laws to change the cultural perceptions that tolerate or condone spousal abuses.

    Its founder, Mary Akangbe, said there was a need to highlight the prevalence of domestic abuse, especially in Africa, where some still believe it is right for a man to hit his wife in some circumstances.

    She spoke in Lagos at the launch of her memoir: Gifts – Roses and Bruises. The book documents her journey of love, betrayal, domestic abuse and violence. “I was almost killed,” she said.

    Mrs Akangbe, a United Kingdom-based nurse and counselor, said the violence she suffered at home lasted for sometime before she decided “to do something about it,” which included ending the relationship.

    Now, she wants to help others repair damages they may have suffered. “Spousal abuse won’t hit you at once. Before you see a scar on a woman, it must have lasted for two years because, at first, a man will not hit a woman where it will show,” she said.

    Mrs Akangbe cited a World Health Organisation (WHO) report which says women are largely affected by domestic violence, with only a small proportion directed towards men. It may include emotional or outright physical abuse.

    She said: “The questions we ask at Glowing Future are: To whom can women turn to when faced with violence in their relationships? What are the constraints and cultural perceptions and implications of seeking help or actually leaving an abusive partner? What services are available, and are they tailor-made?

    “Part of our mission is to provide confidential and structured support for victims, survivors and their families through bi-monthly support group meetings, and to educate and empower communities to embrace a violence-free existence.

    “Regardless of whom you are, what you have or have not done, everyone deserves to live a life of peace, free from fear and intimidation especially in a relationship.

    “Our vision is to institute violence-free communities and empower people who are in or out of difficult relationships to live a fulfilling life beyond domestic abuse and violence.”

    Akangbe said people can support Glowing Future by referring victims of domestic violence to it and encouraging them to speak up, by signing up as a volunteer to offer support, by making donations or sponsoring its counseling events.

  • Federal roads in Benue in bad shape, says Suswam

    Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam has said federal roads in the state are among the worst in the country.

    The governor spoke at the Government House in Makurdi, the state capital, when he hosted Information Minister Labaran Maku and his team on the Good Governance Tour.

    The Federal Government team is on a three-day assessment tour of government projects in the state.

    Suswam said there is no federal project in Benue.

    According to him, the only government projects in the state are those established by the state government.

    The governor noted that some people see governance from negative perspectives.

    He urged the minister to change the people’s cynicism about governance.

    Maku explained that the Good Governance Tour is to let Nigerians feel the impact of governance in the past 13 years of uninterrupted democracy.

    He said: “Democracy is about the Constitution, about good governance and people’s participation. The military is not trained to rule, and since we are coming from a prolonged military rule, people are sceptical about democracy. Bbut this tour will change their thinking for the better.”

    The minister explained that because politician quarrel with one another, some people think no development is taking place. The tour is designed to showcase development through the execution of projects.”

    Maku said the three days would enable Nigerians to know the progress Benue has made in the three ties of government.

    The minister and his team are expected to visit the three senatorial zones and hold a town hall meeting with stakeholders.

    The team will tomorrow round off the tour.

    There was fuel scarcity and blackout by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in Makurdi and its environs.

     

    Almost all the filling stations in the state capital were not selling petrol to motorists.

    Black marketers cashed in on the situation to do brisk business.

    A litre of the product, which sells for N97 per litre, was being sold for N200, where it was available.

    The state has been without power supply in the last three weeks.

     

     

  • Why CBN Act (2007) should be amended

    Why CBN Act (2007) should be amended

    Majority of reports and analysis of Tuesday, October 23, 2012 on the subject of the Public Hearing on the touchy issue of amendment of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007 tilted against the proposed amendment. The position of the CBN Governor based on the Reuters report from Tanzania where he was attending a meeting of the African Development Bank (AfDB) shows his vehemence over the impending amendment.

    Bank stakeholders including former governors and directors of CBN have the same view with Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (SLS). The Nigeria Labour Congress was also ad idem with this seemingly popular view of “no-amendment.” I am in opposition to the “no-amendment” campaign although there are certain propositions in the amendment I disagree with.

    I do not support the proposed composition of the CBN Board, which is scheduled to include a Director in the Ministry of National Planning, Director of Federal Inland Revenue Service, among others. The business of the CBN is too serious to be handed over to some of these nominees who are not profound in monetary policies and banking practices.

    Moreover, appointing a former CBN Governor as chairman of the Board may create problems that will polarize the Board. A former CBN Governor may have “analogue” ideas while the sitting CBN Governor may have “digital” ideas. The latter may be hampered by the former who may refuse to acknowledge the rapid changes manifesting in global economic trends.

    The whole essence of the CBN Act of 2007 is to clothe CBN with a garb of autonomy for monetary and price stability in the economy. At that time, the framers of the law thought that each CBN Governor will assume his position, concentrate on his job and paddle through the vicissitudes of economic combinations and permutations.

    It was not conjectured that a certain SLS will appear on the political firmament of Nigeria and use CBN as fulcrum to challenge the powers of the National Assembly on appropriation, donate huge sums of money to Kano and Madallah bomb victims, make political statements at will and enjoy controversy as fish enjoys an aquatic environment.

    It was also not contemplated that the nation will be saddled with a CBN Governor who runs a secretive and speculated annual budget of about N400billion (almost 10per cent of the total annual national budget) for a population of not up to 5,000 persons (who constitute the Board members and staff of CBN).

    One: The power of the National Assembly to appropriate public fund of the Federation is derivable from the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended. Various sections of the Constitution confirm this position. For instance, section 80 (3) of the Constitution provides that:

    No moneys shall be withdrawn from any public fund of the Federation, other than the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation, unless the issue of those moneys has been authorised by an Act of the National Assembly.

    Section 81 (1) and (2) of the Constitution (as amended) makes it mandatory for the president to lay before the NA budget estimates by way of Appropriation Bill before money can be expended from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation. Section 4 of the Constitution as amended provides:

    (1) The legislative powers of the federal Republic of Nigeria shall be vested in a National Assembly for the Federation which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.

    (2) The National Assembly shall have power to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the Federation or any part thereof with respect to any matter included in the Exclusive Legislative List set out in Part I of the Second Schedule to this Constitution.

    A closer look at the Exclusive Legislative List, Item 1, Part 1 of the Second Schedule shows that the National Assembly has exclusive power to legislate                   on –

    Accounts of the Government of the Federation, and of offices, courts, and authorities thereof, including audit of those accounts.

    It is indubitable that CBN derives its powers from the CBN Act of 2007. If this be so, it means that the Constitution (as amended) is in a tug-of-war with an Act of the National Assembly. In this contest, section 1 (3) of the Constitution resolves the matter by stating that “If any other law is inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution, this Constitution shall prevail, and that other law shall to the extent of the inconsistency be void.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Therefore, any law that purports to take away from the National Assembly the power to appropriate expenditure arising from public fund is void to the extent of its inconsistency. Where are the checks and balances if the CBN Board that makes the budget is the same one that approves it? This is not how to exercise autonomy.

    Two: The CBN Governor is reported to have argued that the NA has, by the provision contained in section 6 (3) of the CBN Act, “donated” its power of appropriation to the CBN Board. One need not be a Senior Advocate of Nigeria to know that the legislature in a democracy cannot wholly donate a power donated exclusively to it by the Constitution, which is the suprema lex. It is a well-founded legal maxim that delegatus non potest delegare (that is, one cannot delegate a delegated authority) but even where partial delegation has been permitted in cases of this nature, the power of the delegator to retrieve the delegated power cannot be questioned. It is trite that he who has power to give also have power to take back. Can the CBN Board argue that the power to appropriate has been donated to it ad infinitum? This argument of the CBN is, therefore, grossly misplaced and without substance.

    Three: The Act should be amended to promote accountability and transparency. The CBN Act authorises the CBN to audit itself contrary to section 85 of the 1999 Constitution which authorises the Auditor-General of the Federation to carry out such function. Section 85 (2) of the Constitution states that “The public accounts of the Federation shall be audited and reported on by the Auditor-General who shall submit his reports to the National Assembly….”

    I refer readers to subsections (3) and (4) of section 85 of the said Constitution,  which provides as follows:

    (3) Nothing in sub (2) of this section shall be construed as authorising the Auditor-General to audit the accounts of or appoint auditors for government statutory corporations, commissions, authorities, agencies, including all persons and bodies established by an Act of the National Assembly, but the Auditor-General shall –

    (a) provide such bodies with –

    (i)   a list of auditors qualified to be appointed by them as external auditors and from which the bodies shall appoint their external auditors, and

    (ii) guidelines on the level of fees to be paid to external auditors; and

    (b) comment on their annual accounts and auditor’s report thereon.

    (4) The Auditor-General shall have power to conduct periodic checks of all government statutory corporations, commissions, authorities, agencies, including all persons and bodies established by an Act of the National Assembly.

    Notwithstanding the clear provisions of the Constitution on matters of audit, section 6 (3) (b) and (d) of the CBN Act provides that the CBN Board shall be responsible for:

    (b) the approval of the audited and management accounts and the  consideration of the management letter from the external auditors;

    (d) making recommendation to the President for the appointment of auditors in accordance with section 49 of this Act, the provision of the necessary facilities and the rates of remuneration.

    A juxtaposition of the constitutional stipulation on audit and that of the role of CBN on audit clearly shows that of CBN as unconstitutional in view of the conflict. In fact, under the CBN Act, the same Board that expends the public fund is responsible for the approval of the audited and management accounts and the consideration of management letter from the external auditors, and making recommendation to the president for the appointment of auditors. Certainly, the Auditor-General has not been given any role to play in the CBN Act thereby destroying the system of checks and balances required in a democracy.

    Four: The NA has argued that the Fiscal Responsibility Act of July 2007 is later in time and as such takes precedence over and above the CBN Act of May 2007 placing reliance on the legal maxim of lex posterior derogat priori. The CBN, on its part, seem to rely on the interpretation of generalia specialibus non derogant, which means that a general thing does not derogate from a special thing.

    In this context, the Fiscal Responsibility Act is the general thing while the CBN Act is the special thing. This implies that a general law like the Fiscal Responsibility Act cannot derogate from a specific law like the CBN Act. I tend to agree that the Fiscal Responsibility Act overshadows the CBN Act hence the CBN Act contains subordinate provisions to those of the Fiscal Responsibility Act and this is the intendment of the draftsman.

    Five: Not amending the CBN Act will amount to flagrant and express breach of section 21 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007. That section provides: Preparation of estimates of revenue and expenditures by corporations, etc.

    1.   The Government corporations and agencies and government owned companies listed in the schedule to this Act (in this Act referred of as “the corporations”) shall, not later than 6 months from the commencement of this Act and every three financial years thereafter and not later than the end of the second quarter of every year, cause to be prepared and submitted to the Minister their Schedule estimates of revenue and expenditure for the next three financial years.

    2.   Each of the bodies referred to in subsection(1) of this section shall submit to the Minister not later than the end of August in each financial year:

    a.   An annual budget derived from the estimates submitted in pursuance of subsection(1) of this section; and

    b.   Projected operating surplus which shall be prepared in line with acceptable accounting practices.

    3.   The Minister shall cause the estimates submitted in pursuance of subsection (2) of this section to be attached as part of the Appropriation Bill to be submitted to the National Assembly.”

    The schedule referred to in this section and attached to the Fiscal Responsibility Act listed 31 government corporations, agencies and companies affected by this section. In fact, CBN is the 31st and last corporation named in the said list. Other corporations named such as NNPC, NPA, NDIC, etc. have complied with the law while only CBN has successfully resisted compliance relying on the CBN Act. The CBN Act is not sacrosanct as power without control is vanity. Liberty (some call it “autonomy”) of the CBN must conform to the law. It was Charles Montesquieu, French historian (1689-1755), who said that “Liberty is the right to do everything which law allows.” What CBN wants is, in fact, absolute liberty. It is trite that the fact that the law has granted a person freedom of expression has not guaranteed him the right to shout “fire” in an amphitheatre where no fire is burning. Lord Acton (1834 to 1902) has said it that power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Leaving CBN Governor with absolute power, as it currently obtains in the CBN Act, is illogical and harmful to the society itself.

    Six: CBN is the only government corporation that fixes the salaries of its board and staff; makes and approves its budget; accounts to and audits itself. For instance, section 8 (3) of the CBN Act provides that salaries, fees, wages or other remuneration or allowances including pension and other allowances payable to the Governor and the deputy governors shall be as stipulated from time to time by the Board subject to the approval of the President.

    In practice, the President is too busy to scrutinize any sum fixed as salaries and wages by the Board. As it is today, the annual take-home pay of the Nigerian President is known but that of the CBN Governor is not known. The National Assembly wants to amend this provision so that the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission would bear the responsibility of fixing these salaries and wages.

    Can it be said that CBN does not have confidence in any other government institution except itself? How does this amount to loss of autonomy? In contrast to the CBN Act, section 9 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which created the Fiscal Responsibility Commission to regulate government corporations including the CBN, provides that emoluments, salaries, allowances and benefits payable to the Chairman and members of the Commission shall be such as the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission may from time to time approve. The envisaged amendment will only bring the CBN at par with international practices and cannot negatively affect its autonomy/independence as it is being bandied by some people.

    Seven: To reduce impunity on the part of the CBN, its Act should be amended. The Board of CBN is comprised of 12 members. Section 6 (2) of the CBN Act provides as follows: The Board shall consist of –

    (a) a Governor who shall be the Chairman;

    (b) four Deputy Governors;

    (c)  the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance;

    (d) five Directors; and

    (e) Accountant-General of the Federation.

    From this list, the four deputy governors and five directors are answerable to the CBN Governor, who is their boss. They kowtow and grovel to him on any issue, more so where under section 7 (1) of the CBN Act the CBN Governor determines who, among the deputy governors, acts for him in his absence. The tendency is that none of these subordinates will toe a different line on any position adopted by the Governor.

    The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance and the Accountant-General of the Federation, who are also members of the Board, are of no consequence even if they are opposed to a subject under consideration. From this scenario, the CBN Governor is the alter ego of the CBN Board. He is the Alpha and Omega of CBN. Tinkering with the composition of this Board in a fair manner will democratise the activities of the Board and save it from continuing as one-man show.

    The level of impunity being perpetrated by the CBN can never be allowed by any democracy marked by rule of law and adherence to order and good governance. What CBN calls “autonomy” is euphemism for “impunity.” In Sanusi’s comparative fallacy, he claims that 40 countries in his list of analogy covet autonomy. Well taken! What he did not tell Nigerians is whether the central bank of these 40 countries operate without any input from their parliaments.

    We are not told that these 40 countries have provisions in their laws which make their boards wholly subservient to their heads. The voices of Alhaji Ciroma, Joseph Sanusi, Green Nwankwo, NLC and others supporting the status quo will dim if and when they decide to look at this amendment in relation to the Constitution and the Fiscal Responsibility Act. It is only then they will understand that a part should not be greater than a whole and a subset should not be larger than the parent set. Since the CBN Act is an Act of the National Assembly, the same National Assembly that represents the voice of the electorate, has deemed it necessary to effect a change. Let us not resist this change. According to Blair J. Kolasa, in Behavioural Science, cited in Vanguard Book of Quotations, Compiled by Dr. Bamidele A. Sobowale, p. 26,

    We may not recognise it or otherwise be cognizant of it, we may oppose it, or even try to accelerate it. No matter what our position may be, change makes its course in the evolution of human effort. Change may take place so slowly that it is no perception in one rapidity that we are left somewhat breathless in the wake of the waves.

    If this change occurs, Sanusi may remember the words of Richard Cheney, American Secretary of Defence, in 1992 (cited in Vanguard Book of Quotations) to wit, “It is easy to take liberty for granted when you have never had it taken from you.”

     

    • Eze is a Lagos-based attorney and the Principal Counsel of the law firm of Eze & Associates.