A former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Lamido Sanusi, has declared his readiness to face investigations into his tenure at the top bank.
Mr. Sanusi’s comments came as a response to a call by Femi Falana, a senior lawyer, urging the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to investigate alleged “diversion” of government funds by the CBN, under Mr. Sanusi.
Mr. Falana also called for the probe of Mr. Sanusi’s predecessor, Charles Soludo.
“Sometime in 2006, former Central Bank Governor, Profesor Chukwuma Soludo removed $7 billion from the nation’s external reserves and doled it out to 14 Nigerian banks. Two years later, the Central Bank Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (the current Emir of Kano) also gave a bailout of N600 billion to the same banks. The request of some civil society organisations for the recovery of the huge loan of $7 billion and N600 billion from the commercial banks has been ignored by the management of the Central Bank,” Mr. Falana said in a statement on Saturday.
“In the Appropriation Act, 2011, the sum of N245 billion was earmarked for fuel subsidy. In violation of the Act, the Central Bank of Nigeria headed by Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi paid the sum of N2.5 trillion to a cabal of fuel importers. Following our petition the EFCC conducted an investigation into the fraud but the exercise was compromised due to pressure from the former Jonathan administration. Even though the EFCC has charged some of the suspects to court the investigation ought to be reopened with a view to getting to the root of the monumental fraud.”
Mr. Sanusi said he was always available at any time to answer questions regarding his stewardship at the central bank.
