Nigerians have been called upon to ensure that the controversies arising from the recent suspension of Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) are not allowed to distract the apex Bank from effectively discharging its mandate to the Nigerian people.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Senator Bassey Otu, gave this advice today during the budget defence meeting on the implementation of the 2013 and the presentation of the 2014 operating budget of the CBN.

According to the Senate Committee Chairman, “You have been doing quite alright in terms of performance. The challenging state of the economy has been very challenging. There has been a lot of controversies in recent times linking the central bank. We won’t want it to affect the institution.”

Continuing, he said: “We want everybody to concentrate and do the work the Nigerian people want you to do. Issues would sort out itself in appropriate time. If there are people that are culpable, then, they would have to face the law very squarely. So, but it must not affect the productivity of the institution the direction and objective of the institution.”

Senator Otu called on the CBN to live up to its responsibilities, noting that the state of the economy has been very challenging. He advised the Bank’s officials to remain focused and concentrate on their jobs.

In his presentation, the CBN Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, Alhaji Suleiman Barau, attributed the high budgetary expenditure of 2013 arising from liquidity management to the quantitative easing in the United States and Western European countries, which led to upsurge in foreign portfolio investment inflow by investors who were desirous of taking advantage of the higher yield prevailing in the Nigerian market.

According the Deputy Governor, it was not unlikely that the pressure on the foreign reserves stemmed from the activities of these foreign investors who want to repatriate their returns on investment.

The Deputy Governor stressed that as monetary institution, 80 to 90 per cent of CBN’s budgetary expenditure is usually spent on liquidity management. He noted that in 2013, for instance, out of the total income of N552 billion, the bank spent N536 on liquidity management alone.

News Express recalls that the CBN was last week commended by the House Committee on Finance for its unequaled record of timely remittances to the Federation Account. The Chairman, Finance Committee, Dr. Abdul Mumin Jibril, stated that the Bank has over the years, been very consistent in its remittances to the Federation Account among government agencies.

•Photo shows Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Senator Bassey Otu.