…corruption fights back
… president should not be petroleum minister
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says the financial records of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), need to be gone through with a tooth comb in a thorough audit exercise.
Hinting that corruption fights back, however, the former CBN governor said such an exercise would be resisted and that such an effort had cost him his job at the apex bank years back.
Sanusi made the remarks in an address at The Bank Directors Summit holding at the Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja.
Sanusi, who was CBN governor from June 2009 to February 2014, indicated it was awkward and improper for the President of Nigeria to double as the Minister of Petroleum.
He further expressed the view that the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) need to remain functional until banks pay up their debts.
He further said the Nigerian banking sector was short on trust and would need to build up credit on that score.
Months into his inauguration, President Bola Tinubu split the Ministry of Petroleum Resources with the appointment of Ekperipe Ekpo as Minister of State, Gas Resources; and Heineken Lokpobiri as Minister of State, Petroleum Resources.
Following in the trail of his predecessor, former president Muhammadu Buhari, however, incumbent President Bola Tinubu, retained the position of Minister of Petroleum Resources.
