HOUSE URGE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA TO DECLARE INTERESTS ACCRUAL TO THE FOREIGN RESERVE ACCOUNTS
The House of Representatives has demanded that the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN should without delay make public the particulars and interests of the accounts in which the Foreign Reserves of the Federation are held. The CBN is also urged to report the criteria for engaging foreign managers of the Reserve Accounts and to ensure transparency, including an annual report on the performance of the managers alongside any guidelines issued by the apex bank for the engagement of the fund managers. The call stemmed from a resolution passed on Wednesday, December, 16, 2015, on a motion, calling for the CBN to declare the aforementioned interests, standing in the name of Hon. Abdulsamad Dasuki.
He informed the House that the CBN maintains several Foreign Reserve Accounts on behalf of Nigeria, which includes funds in foreign currencies that are held in various financial institutions, before they are disbursed during the monthly Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) meetings.
He noted that substantial amount of interest accrued from the surplus of funds held by CBN on behalf of the Federation, which has not been monetized into Nigeria's currency and received by the Federation from the CBN. He is concerned that the accruals have hitherto not been openly declared, thus remains indiscernible in public records.
Hon. Dasuki, insisted that if the situation is not carefully examined and appropriate measures taken, it portends dangerous consequences, especially for some States of the Federation that have persistently canvassed for discontinuance of the agreement permitting FAAC to decide savings or reserves from disbursable funds to the components of the Federation. He prayed the House to mandate the Committee on Financial Crimes to investigate whether any crimes may have been committed in the course of the management of interests that might have accrued to the Foreign Reserve Accounts in the last 4 years.
In another development, the House has received the report of the Committees on Finance, Appropriations, and Aids, Loans and Debt Management on 2016-2018 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) of the Federal Government of Nigeria. The report was laid before the House for consideration by Hon. Babangida Ibrahim.