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Nigeria: Naira takes a hit after Central Bank Governor Sanusi leaves
Immediate Past Nigeria Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanusi. PHOTO/File
Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday suspended the Central Bank governor
in a surprise move that halted bond trading and sent the Nigerian naira to a record low, after his accusations of missing oil revenue sparked a public outcry and criticism against the government.
According to President Jonathan’s spokesman Reuben Abati, in an e-mailed statement, Lamido Sanusi, was suspended for alleged “financial recklessness and misconduct”.
Sanusi will be replaced by his deputy, Sarah Alade, as acting governor.
Jonathan immediately sent to parliament the name of another banker he proposed as the new custodian of the nation’s federal reserves, making clear that he effectively has fired Sanusi, a 52-year-old career banker.
Sanusi, who has spearheaded bank reforms and acknowledged making powerful enemies among vested interests in a country, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Nigerian naira dropped from 163 to 169 to the U.S. dollar when Jonathan’s statement became public, financial analysts said. The Central Bank stopped trade in its fixed income and bond market while the Nigerian Stock Exchange remained open.
Analyst Bismarck Rewane warned of “a very difficult time” for the naira and Nigeria’s financial market in the near-term. He said the suspension from a position held in high reverence increases uncertainty as Nigeria prepares for a hotly contested presidential election in February next year.
Sanusi was due to leave as Central Bank governor at the expiry of his five-year tenure in June this year.
Late last year Sanusi reported that US$50 billion worth of oil sold by the state Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had not been paid to the government. The Senate Committee on Finance last week ordered an independent forensic audit into the missing money, which it said now amounted to about US$20 billion. The Finance Ministry said missing receipts recovered in an audit accounted for the rest of the missing money.
Nigerian accounts on Twitter hummed with the news, with many saying Sanusi was being punished for fighting corruption, and others hoping his suspension would lead him to making even greater revelations.
“When you fight corruption, corruption fights back,” the Enough Is Enough Nigeria project tweeted.
Sanusi, has in the past said he received death threats and frequent warnings he would be fired after he took “a decision that would pitch us against powerful economic and political forces,”.
Source: Newswires