25th January, 2024
By Paul Dada
Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has berated those opposed to the planned relocation of five departments of the apex bank from Abuja to Lagos.
Sanusi said such critics were “dangerous for the bank’s future”. He said the relocation of the departments would help the CBN streamline its operations, reduce costs and become more effective.
The former CBN helmsman alleged that CBN has many employees who are children of politically exposed person, so they prefer their luxury living in Abuja to their duties at the bank.
The announcement of the relocation of the departments has been greeted with rejection by some Nigerians with some claiming that the the entire bank headquarters was going to be relocated to Lagos.
But the Federal Government in a statement by Bayo Onanuga, the special adviser on information and strategy to President Bola Tinubu, debunked the rumour that there was a plan to relocate CBN completely. He said: “Similarly, the movement of the Department of Banking Supervision of the CBN to Lagos should not trigger any discord within the polity. The department concerned deals with commercial banks, almost all of which have their headquarters in Lagos.
“All those pushing this campaign of falsehood and misinformation know they are merely playing politics, albeit a dangerous politics, to pit the North against the South. There are many parastatals that are not based in Abuja depending on their mandate. The headquarters of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), for example, are in Lagos. In the same vein, the headquarters of National Inland Waterways Authority( NIWA) is in Lokoja, while that of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), was commissioned by former President Muhammadu Buhari is in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
“It must be pointed out that these decisions are purely administrative that should not be politicized by people of goodwill and those who wish our country well. President Tinubu-led administration is working tirelessly to be just and equitable to every section of the country. We urge restraint on the part of those whose stock in trade is to create all manner of dangerous rumours to distract every government from the noble objective of meeting the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians”.