Sanusi Lamido finally replies president jonathan

I am compelled to make this public
statement to address the various
allegations levied against the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and cited as the
reasons for my suspension from office as
the Governor of the CBN on the 19th of
February 2014.
As a matter of record, the allegations
were made in the following documents:
i. Briefing Note of the Financial Reporting
Council of Nigeria (FRCN) dated 7th June
2013, Ref: PRES/188/T&I/89 to His
Excellency, President Goodluck Ebele
Jonathan [the Briefing Note];
ii. The Letter of Suspension dated 19th
February 2014, which I received from
the Office of the Secretary to the
Government of the Federation; and
iii. The petition dated 9th February 2014
by Mr. Erastus Akingbola.
However, before I go into the above
issues, let me reiterate for the records,
the achievements of the CBN during my
tenure as the Governor:
The Record
Firstly, let me state that I have been
extremely fortunate to have had a solid
and supportive team led by the Deputy
Governors and supported by the
Departmental Directors, as well as
thousands of hardworking and dedicated
staff who must be given the credit for all
that the CBN has achieved. I would also
like to acknowledge for the record, the
foundation laid by my predecessor,
Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, in a
number of areas.
The CBN Act, 2007, which he
championed, established the CBN as a
truly autonomous entity of the
Federation, and made it possible for us
to take the difficult decisions necessary
for restoring and maintaining
macroeconomic stability. The FSS 2020
and PSV 2020 documents provided the
principal strategic roadmaps that led to
many of the innovations in payment
systems, non-interest banking, financial
inclusion, the Asset Management
Corporation, IFRS, Risk-based
Supervision, and the like.
Indeed, it will be impossible for me to
review almost five years of revolutionary
change made possible by the work of
thousands of employees in the CBN in
collaboration with other Regulators,
Banks and Other Financial Institutions
and Government Ministries in this press
statement. However, I will mention a few
of the key highlights.
On monetary policy, the Bank has
improved the institutional framework for
policy-making. A properly constituted
Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) with a
clear mandate for maintaining stability
has been established. The MPC has been
supported by improvements in research,
data and forecasting capacity, and we
have also paid attention to clear
communication of our objectives to the
market. As a result, headline inflation
has remained below 10 per cent since
January 2013, from a peak of 15.1
percent and 13.9 percent in 2008 and
2009 respectively.
Core inflation declined from 11.2 per
cent in December 2009 to 7.9 percent in
December 2013, while food inflation
maintained a downward trend from 15.5
percent in December 2009 to 9.3
percent in December 2013. In addition
to the conventional liquidity
management products, the Bank
approved financial products to manage
liquidity in non-interest financial
institutions. The CBN also promoted the
formation of the financial Markets
Dealers Quotations Over–the-Counter
(FQDM OTC) Plc as a self-regulatory OTC
operator.
In the area of safeguarding the value of
the local currency and maintaining
stability in the foreign exchange market
for the overall sustenance of
macroeconomic stability and growth, the
CBN over the period has successfully
maintained a stable exchange rate
regime and a robust external reserve
position conducive to sustainable growth
and development.
On the Banking System, I was appointed
Governor in the middle of a global
financial crisis when the Nigerian
banking system was on the verge of
collapse. The Bank moved swiftly to
remove the managing directors and
executive directors of the banks where
major corporate governance failures
were discovered, provided liquidity
support, pioneered the setting up of the
Asset Management Corporation of
Nigeria (AMCON) to purchase non-
performing loans, recapitalize the banks
and pilot a process that led to mergers
and acquisitions, as well as
recapitalization of all the weak and
failing banks. As a result, all financial
soundness indicators – Capital Adequacy,
Asset Quality, Liquidity and Profitability
ratios – were normalized.
As a result of the work by the Bank, not
a single depositor or creditor lost money
in any Nigerian bank during or after the
financial crisis.
In addition to the quantitative measures,
we broke up universal banks and
encouraged the setting up of specialized
banks (including the first Non – interest
Bank in the Country's history), pushed
for the adoption of IFRS and Basel 3,
enhanced risk-based supervision, issued
Competency Guidelines for the staff in
the banking industry, established a
Consumer Protection Department and
developed a Financial Inclusion Strategy
and Roadmap, among others for the
CBN.
The Bank implemented policies aimed at
reducing the excessive use of cash in
the system to ensure safety, improve
efficiency and curb money laundering.
The transformation of NIBSS, the
insistence on interoperability of
channels, encouragement of electronic
banking, the licensing of Mobile Money
Operators, the Agent Banking and
tiered-KYC frameworks have all led to
rapid growth in volume and value of non-
cash transaction and enhanced financial
inclusion.
The Bank has played its leadership role
in ensuring industry compliance with
environmental sustainability and
governance standards, including a strong
focus on women and the handicapped.
The CBN in the last five years has taken
a leading role in providing long-term low-
cost funding to priority sectors of the
Nigerian economy in a bid to help in
bringing to reality the Transformation
Agenda of the government of your
Excellency. We have provided these
funds at single-digit interest rates to
micro, small and medium enterprises, as
well as to companies operating in the
power, aviation, and agricultural sectors
of the economy, and also to large
industrial enterprises with potential for
structural transformation.
The Bank has invested in human capital,
improved staff welfare and attracted and
retained specialized skills in the areas of
Banking Supervision, Information
Technology, Shared Services and Risk
Management.
On Financial Performance, the Bank has
in the last five years kept a lid on
overheads and cost of currency
management. As a result, the Bank has
continued to produce sterling results and
contributed substantially to the Federal
Budget. In the five years, 2009 – 2013,
the Bank contributed N376 billion to the
Federal Budget as Internally Generated
Revenue (IGR).Based on 2012 financials
alone, we paid N80 billion to the Ministry
of Finance.
On the basis of the 2013 results and at
the request of the Coordinating Minister
of the Economy (CME), we paid N159
billion to the Ministry of Finance in
February this year; the same month the
audited accounts of the CBN were
approved by the Committee of
Governors (COG). Indeed, due to the
precarious position of Government
finances, the CBN in February 2014,
upon the request of the CME, gave the
Ministry a further 'Advance IGR' of N70
billion in anticipation of 2014 profits.
May I add that, in 2008, the year before
my appointment, the CBN contributed
N8 billion to the Federation Account.
Although the Bank is not a profit-centre,
in the first four years of my term, the
Bank alone contributed 75 percent of
the total IGR paid by MDAs leading to
commendation by the House Committee
on Finance at several Public Hearings.
Recognitions
As a result of these achievements of my
colleagues and staff, we received
numerous recognitions consistently
throughout my tenure from highly-
regarded publications. These awards are
based on a competitive process where
analysts and economists rank Central
Bank Governors across regions and the
globe.
In 2010, The Banker Magazine, a
publication of Financial Times in London,
named me Best Central Bank Governor
in the World and Best in Africa. At the
Annual World Bank/IMF Meetings,
Emerging Markets, a publication of
Euromoney Institutional Investor named
me Best Central Bank Governor in Sub-
Saharan Africa for 2009, 2010 and 2012.
The African Banker Magazine named me
Best Central Bank Governor in Africa,
2012. This is in addition to being named
Forbes Africa Person of the year 2011
and listed by TIME as one of the 100
most influential people in the world,
2011.
I have always regarded these honours
not as personal accolades, but as a
tribute to our nation and the committed
and resourceful women and men of CBN.
Response to the allegations in
relation to my suspension
On Wednesday 10th March 2014, I
submitted a Memorandum to His
Excellency, Mr President, with
supporting documentation, effectively
addressing all the allegations contained
in the FRCN Briefing Note, the Letter of
Suspension and the Akingbola Petition.
Having submitted my response to the
President, I am further compelled,
following the recent press briefing and
comments by the Senior Special
Adviserto the President on Media, as well
as numerous other references to the
allegations in both local, international
and online media, to put to the public
my responses, in the interest of
transparency, accountability and my
responsibility to the Nigerian people. Let
me also state that I saw the FRCN
"Briefing Note" for the first time when it
was attached to the suspension letter. At
no time was this report sent to the CBN
either by the President or the FRCN for
comments or explanations.
As for the Akingbola petition, it is a
rehash of baseless allegations he has
been making since 2010 which
apparently he must have been asked to
reproduce on February 9, ten days
before the suspension. It is indeed
strange that the CBN Governor can be
suspended based on allegations written
by a man who ran his bank into the
ground and against whom judgement
has been obtained in a London court,
and who furthermore is facing criminal
prosecution at home for offences
including criminal Theft.
A careful examination of the allegations
contained in the FRCN Briefing Note to
Mr President, will show that each of the
allegations could easily have been
resolved by a simple request for
clarification or more careful review.
There is no doubt that if the CBN had
received the Briefing Note, which was
prepared in June 2013, all the
misconceptions, misrepresentations and
erroneous inferences contained therein
would have been cleared.
I am publishing these responses to
enable the general public see that each
and every allegation levelled against the
CBN under my leadership is false and
unfounded, and that many of the
allegations were malicious and
fabricated, having been designed to
mislead the President into believing that
the Management of the Central Bank
was guilty of misconduct and
recklessness.
Having provided detailed explanations,
backed by verifiable documents, it is my
sincere wish that His Excellency, Mr
President, in line with his adherence to
fairness and justice, will apply the same
rationale and rigour to other agencies of
the Federal Government that have had
serious allegations and queries levied
against them, and prevail upon them to
provide responses and explanations with
the same level of clarity and
transparency.
In closing, I would like to place on record
the dogged professionalism and
patriotism of the staff of the CBN. They
have, over the years, conducted
themselves very creditably, and
discharged their duties with the highest
integrity.

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