PH Mundial – Port Harcourt Online Newspaper News Across The Region
Related Articles
Paul Williams, Abuja
For the second time in one week, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, Monday failed to appear before the Senate Committee on Finance to explain the variance in exchange rate in the prosecution of three major government projects.
This development did not go down well with the Senator Adeola Solomon-led committee as he adjourned the meeting to Wednesday, giving the CBN governor time to appear before the committee.
The CBN deputy governor in charge of operations, Adebisi Shonubi, had appeared before the committee, but Senator Solomon insisted that Emefiele must physically be present on Wednesday to respond to questions.
Our correspondent reports that the Senate committee is investigating why the CBN exchange rate for disbursed fund was N325 to a dollar instead of the official rate of N305 as stipulated in the 2020 budget.
The panel had summoned Mr Emefiele to give detailed explanations on the rationale behind the exchange rates the CBN used for three key projects under the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF).
The projects are being funded by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).
The PIDF was earmarked from dollar-denominated Sovereign Wealth Fund to partly fund the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Second Niger Bridge, Abuja-Kano Expressway, East-West Road and Mambilla Hydro Project.
