There are indications that the bill
to repeal and re-enact the Banking and Other Financial Institutions Act
(BOFIA) may not be passed in the seventh House of Representatives.
There are allegations that the House leadership has been compromised
over it. The House was alleged to have sold the
soul of the BOFIA amendment to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for an
undisclosed amount. There appears to be a consistent and orchestrated
attempt by the House leadership to bury the BOFIA Act, or at best to
ensure that it was not passed during the Seventh House, The Nation
gathered.
It was learnt that February 18, a day to
the presentation of the BOFIA amended Act for consideration at the
Committee of the Whole House by its sponsor, Betty Apiafi, the CBN was
sent a copy to enable it to remove aspects that are offensive to the
financial sector’s regulator. Though independent sources at the CBN
confirmed receiving the bill on the eve of its consideration, the apex
bank authority denied any passage of money- for -non-passage of the
bill.
The bill entitled: “An Act to Repeal the
Banking and Other Financial Institutions Act, 2004 and to Re-enact the
Banking and Other Financial Institutions Act, 2010, and for Matters
Connected Therewith” in its current form, whittles down the powers of
the CBN Governor and bars directors from collecting loans in banks where
they work. It also revises upwards the outdated penalties for various
offenses in the banking sector.
The repeal and re-enactment of the BOFIA
bill is also aimed at improving regulatory regime as well as protecting
depositors from losses in situations where banks fail.
The consideration of the bill on the
floor on February 19, 2013 was stalled by the Deputy Speaker, Emeka
Ihedioha and the Chairman of the House Committee on Banking and
Currency, Mr Chukwudi Jones Onyereri, to the amazement of members. Since then, only three clauses were
considered in the bill and that was at the instance of the Speaker,
Aminu Tambuwal, on a day he presided over plenary.
The Speaker, who is said to be unaware
of the deal, called for the consideration of the bill and three clauses
were subsequently considered. Every other attempt to continue the
presentation has been continually frustrated, as the House allegedly
await the CBN version of the bill. There are allegations that the CBN was
promised by some members of the House leadership that the presentation
and consideration of the bill would be delayed by whatever means to
ensure the non-passage untill the CBN makes its input.
Efforts to initially present the bill
was rebuffed by Ihedioha who always refused to mention the bill when it
is listed. The Rules and Business Committee also ensures that the bill
comes last on the few occasions it was listed so that members never get
to it at plenary. But Oke Epia, Chief Press Secretary to Ihedioha, said he would not speak on the issue and referred the reporter to Onyereri. Onyereri said the allegation is not
true, adding that the new BOFIA bill, “ is the best thing that has
happened to the country,” no one would be allowed to truncate it. He
further stated that the bill is at the Committee of the Whole for
consideration and that at that level, “no one, can stop it. The committee chair, while applauding
Apiafi, said the House was going through the bill and that at the end of
the day, “ the country will applaud the BOFIA we will present.”
The spokesman of the CBN,Ugochukwu
Okoroafor, told The Nation that people who are insinuating that the CBN
is stalling the BOFIA Amendment Act “are mischievous.” His words: “The bill is a public
document and there are many copies flying around . People saying that
CBN is trying to stall the process are mischievous. When we come to
public hearing CBN makes presentations. “Amendment of BOFIA is not a CBN issue
but what do we want as a country, is what we have different from other
countries, The BOFIA is not such a big deal. What if Sanusi steps down,
will the bill be stepped down? “The
bill might send wrong message. In a country where people know that the
laws can be fiddled with, it will drive away foreign investors. Why
should they hid it from CBN, we proposed some bills ourselves.”
No comments:
Post a Comment