by Akan Ido

The House of Representatives has accused the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, of making utterances capable of heating up the polity.

Victor Ogene, the deputy chairman of the House on media and public affairs briefed journalists saying Sanusi has a penchant for making “frequent controversial utterances.”

“Is Sanusi a political economist or is he an economist with a bias for causing political turbulence?” he asked rhetorically.

After reeling out a range of accusations against the CBN governor, it was clear that his cup ran over when he advocated the scrapping of one arm of the National Assembly on the grounds that maintaining two chambers would be too costly for Nigerians to sustain.

The House spokesman reportedly suggested that the CBN governor will do well to suggest ways of properly managing the CBN instead of focusing on other arms of government.

According to Ogene, the staff strength of the CBN when Sanusi took over in 2009 was 5,022 but that he had raised the apex bank’s staff strength to 6,015.

“Instead of pruning down the staff strength, he has employed about 1,000 more people.

“The CBN has over 20 directors; I don’t want to accuse him of nepotism but there are many issues on promotion and staff placement in the CBN which he has failed to address”, the lawmaker added.

Ogene continued saying, “Go and check the CBN, it has a budget of over N300bn. Sanusi has refused to subject this budget to scrutiny and appropriation by the National Assembly.

“He hides under the CBN Act, but the CBN Act is not superior to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999),” he said.

The House cautioned the CBN governor against making statements that would create unnecessary anxiety in the country.

The House has adjourned its plenary again till December 11.