Yesterday, the senate proposed a six-year single term for governor and deputy governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
It sought to limit the amount the Federal Government can borrow from CBN under the Ways and Means Advances.
For external directors appointed to its board, the Senate proposed they should hold office for a non-renewable term of five years (one year less than the six-year tenure of the governor and deputies).
This followed the second reading of a Bill seeking to amend the CBN Act.
The Bill, among others, seeks to make the bank comply with the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Adetokunbo Abiru (APC, Lagos East), and 41 lawmakers sponsored the Bill: “A Bill for an Act to amend the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act No. 7 of 2007.”
On Ways and Means Advances, the Bill proposes that advances CBN can grant the Federal Government should not exceed 10 per cent of average government actual revenue in the preceding three years.
“To determine the government’s actual revenue proceeds from asset sales shall be excluded to avoid capturing revenue from exceptional items.
“Also, such temporary loans should be repaid in full within three months from the date made available. To minimise default risk, any sum outstanding at the end of the expiration of the credit period should be held against and recovered from the proportion of FAAC receipts,” he said.
