The Senate yesterday described the 2012 Budget of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as illegal because the CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has not submitted it to the National Assembly for the approval. Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu,� after the second reading of a bill for an Act to amend the CBN Act 2007 to compel the bank to submit its annual budget to the National Assembly, noted that the Fiscal Responsibility Act which was promulgated after the CBN Act 2007, mandated all agencies of government to submit their budgets to� the legislature for approval. The sponsor of the bill, Senator Ita Enang (PDP, Akwa Ibom North-East), earlier in his lead debate, said, ?It is only by submitting the CBN budget to the National Assembly for consideration and passage that we can ensure that the CBN is limited to its constitutional duties and does not delve into illegalities and prohibited activities.
Supporting the bill, Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi (PDP, Kaduna North) said since the bill does not seek to repeal the CBN Act, Sanusi ought to emulate other agencies by submitting the budget to the National Assembly.
Senator George Thompson Sekibo (PDP, Rivers East) maintained that the CBN had breached the principle of checks and balances for not seeking the approval of the legislature, saying ?it is illegal for the CBN to appropriate funds for itself and spend same without being checked?.
Spokesman of the Senate, Senator Enyinnaya Harcourt Abaribe (PDP, Abia South) and the Deputy Senate Leader, Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central), said Sanusi had violated a section of the constitution which says that if any law conflicts with the constitution, the latter prevails.
The Senate resolved that the budget of the apex bank be submitted for approval otherwise it remains illegal.
Allen Stanford Consumer affairs Australia cricket team Radio 1 Switzerland Mark Bright
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