FRESH trouble appears to be brewing for the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, following reports indicating that the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) has uncovered some rot at the apex bank, details of which are now being considered by President Goodluck Jonathan.
But the CBN through its Director of Corporate Communications, Ugochukwu Okoroafor, has absolved itself of any wrongdoing.
Sources told Sunday Tribune at the weekend that the executive secretary of the council, Mr. Jim Obazee, was sighted at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Friday, apparently to shed more light on the findings at a meeting with the president.
It was gathered that the government had been reviewing a number of reports relating to the CBN in recent months, especially following the audit of the bank by international accounting firms.
A source in the administration said it was not sure why Obazee held a two-hour meeting with Jonathan, but sources in the financial sector insisted that the council had uncovered a number of unwholesome practices at the apex bank and had made the report available to the administration.
Another source, who claimed to be in the know of the details of FRCN’s findings told Sunday Tribune that the rot in the bank would shame the leaders in the apex bank, adding that the government, however, had to be careful in dealing with the issue so as not to affect the stable financial output of the country.
“Right now, the country’s growth rate is hitting double figures. Everything must be done to maintain that stable outlook, but some of the rot around here are enormous,” the expert said.
Reports of the meeting between the executive secretary of the FRCN and the president are coming on the heels of revelations that the CBN was struggling to meet the demands for the adoption of the International Financial Reporting standard (IFRS).
The IFRS came into effect globally in 2010 and the three stages of the system were supposed to be fully operational by 1 January, 2014. But the CBN has seriously lagged behind in adopting the system.
The IFRS mandates Nigeria’s private and public sectors to adopt a new accounting regime to be implemented in stages.
In view of its failure to comply with the global financial reporting system, the CBN was said to have started demanding exemptions which is not yet forthcoming.
Sources further indicated that the administration was wary in releasing details of the Financial Council’s report on the CBN.
It was, however, gathered that necessary queries would be issued as and when due.
A source recalled that Sanusi was queried by President Jonathan alongside former chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Dr Festus Odimegwu, in 2013. It was gathered that the query from the president stemmed from the initial reports gathered from the forensic audit of the CBN.
“It is almost certain that fresh issues would come out of the details already uncovered by the Financial Regulatory Council. It is the apex financial body in the country and its procedures are almost infallible,” a source in the financial sector stated at the weekend.
However Okoroafor said that it was wrong to say that the apex bank was not keying into the new accounting system.
According to him, “CBN has been at the forefront of this policy from inception. Am sure you know there is a difference between the enterprise standard and industry standard. It is wrong to say we are running away from it. We supported the establishment of the law, backed the process of passing the bill establishing it, into law and we have been at the fore-front of its implementation.
“CBN has been the one pushing the implementation of the new accounting system, and worked very hard to make sure the law was passed at the parliament. We have even put a process in place to ensure that banks abide with the provisions of the law, with our Bankers’ committee deeply involved in getting the entire industry to adopt the new system and seamlessly move from the old accounting system to this new policy”
Speaking on the alleged inability of the apex bank to demonstrate leadership by example, he stated that “We believe in it (the accounting policy) and have been supporting it from cradle.
We are still in a period of transition. It is evolutionary. It is a process, not a day thing. It is a new accounting system and it is not that you must do it in a day. We have organized several seminar for capacity-building on IFRS. We have supported the policy from beginning, starting with the making of the bill that became the law, the push at the National Assembly and support for implementation”
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