Lamido Sanusi, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has advocated for a thorough audit of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) as a crucial step to address Nigeria’s enduring foreign exchange crisis.
Speaking at the Bank Directors’ Summit in Abuja, Sanusi also expressed disapproval of the President’s dual role as a petroleum minister in Nigeria.
Sanusi underscored the significance of investigating NNPCL, emphasizing its role as a major contributor to the country’s foreign exchange earnings.
He revealed that his insistence on probing NNPCL had led to the termination of his tenure as the CBN governor, a position he held from June 2009 to February 2014.
The former CBN governor raised pertinent questions about the inability of NNPCL to generate sufficient dollars and urged for transparency in the company’s operations.
He highlighted the lack of audits during his 15-year tenure at the Central Bank and labeled NNPCL as “the most opaque oil company in the world.”
Sanusi emphasized the need for a substantive minister of petroleum to address the excesses of NNPCL and criticized the idea of the President holding the petroleum minister position.
He argued that having a minister dedicated to the petroleum portfolio would create accountability and allow for scrutiny by the Nigerian public.
“The exchange rate needs to be stabilized, and we must address the fundamental question: why is there no money coming in? Why is the NNPCL not able to bring in dollars?…The NNPCL is the most opaque oil company in the world. They have not been audited when I was in the Central Bank for 15 years,” Sanusi asserted.
He concluded by cautioning against the President’s dual role, stating, “Now, nobody can talk about Petroleum because for eight years, if you talk, you have been attacking the President. We need that buffer; somebody has to be there, so a minister who is held accountable by Nigerians has to be there.”
