The two bills considered by the Senate also seek to reposition the CBN towards the pursuit and advancement of its core mandates.
Two bills seeking to bar the governor and deputy governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from participating in politics have passed second reading at the Senate.
The CBN Amendment Bills, which also seek to reposition the bank to achieve its core mandates, were separately sponsored by Sunday Karimi (APC, Kogi West) and Darlington Nwokocha (LP, Abia central) at the plenary on Wednesday.
The bills were read for the first time, consolidated into one and referred to the Committee of the Whole for final consideration.
Emefiele's ambition
In the build up of the last general election, the immediate past Governor of CBN, Godwin Emefiele, showed interest in running for president of Nigeria on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) without resigning his position at the bank.
Mr Emefiele, who is currently undergoing trial in court, later dropped the ambition amid public outrage.
Debate
In the lead debate on the amendment, Mr Nwokocha said the CBN Act needed to be amended in order to regulate the bank to meet international standard practices.
He said the amendment will establish a proper governance for monetary policies in the country.
According to him, the bill seeks to: "Separate the head of management from the head of the governing Board in line with national and international good corporate governance practices.
"Establish a proper governance architecture for the monetary authority for optimal policy and operational effectiveness;
"Enshrine real-time controls and effective accountability in the conduct of central banking in Nigeria.
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"Reposition the CBN towards pursuit and advancement of its core mandates given the Bank's pivotal role in the economy; and 44) Position the CBN as an apolitical entity that will become a worthy example in national and international monetary policy, banking sector regulation, currency management, and supervision."
Mr Karimi, while also leading the debate on his bill, said section 9 of the CBN Act should be amended to stop governors and deputy governors of the apex bank from participating in politics.
"I'm proposing that section 9 be amended further that will ban the CBN governor and deputies from participating in politics when they are in service," he said.
Mr Karimi also said the amendment to the Act will accommodate representation of the auditor-general of the federation, chair of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Chartered Institute of Bankers in Nigeria (CIBN) in the CBN board of management.
"I am proposing that we bring in the auditor-general of the federation. Chair of FIRS and Chartered Institute of Bankers in Nigeria (CIBN) should be represented in the board of the CBN.
"The second area has to do with the CBN governor participating in politics like we have in the last election, we know the problem he almost caused for the nation," he said.
