House of Reps members call for the arrest of CBN governor Emefiele for refusing to honour their invitation

SEVERAL members of the House of Representatives have demanded that an arrest warrant be issued against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Godwin Emefiele over his refusal to answer summons by lawmakers.

Under Nigeria's constitution, the National Assembly has the right to summon public officials as part of its oversight function. However, Mr Emefiele has recently refused to honour a summons from the House of Representatives’ Joint Committees on Customs & Excise and Banking & Currency, leading to calls for him to be arrested.

Hon Leke Abejide, the chairman of the House Committee on Customs and Excise, ruled that the warrant be issued on Mr Emefiele over his alleged refusal to answer the summons by lawmakers. On January 27, the House had asked the CBN to suspend the electronic evaluation and invoicing policy recently introduced in the import and export chain, warning that it might negatively affect revenue collection by the Nigeria Customs Service.

Mr Emefiele was to appear before the committee to explain the implication of the policy to Customs’ revenue target in 2022. However, he has snubbed the invitation and ignored the request by the House to suspend the electronic evaluation policy.

A motion sponsored by Hon Abejide calling for the suspension was passed and the lawmakers also invited Mr Emefiele to brief the Committee on Customs and Excise. He was expected to come and provide assurances that the target revenue of N3.1tn given to the Nigeria Customs Service by the federal government will not be distorted by this sudden policy implementation.

Also, the House urged the CBN to give a 90 days’ timeline for subsequent new fiscal/monetary policy implementation to allow for adjustment in order to stabilise the economy. At the investigative hearing yesterday, Hon Abejide expressed his displeasure with the absence of Mr Emefiele, saying the parliament could not continue to tolerate it, hence, a warrant of arrest should be issued.

While some members of the committee opposed the suggestion, insisting that they must be given an opportunity to express their views on the matter and vote on the next line of action, others alleged that the CBN governor had always ignored invitations from the National Assembly and that he was being shielded by some unnamed lawmakers. After a closed door session, members resolved to withdraw the warrant of arrest earlier issued against the CBN governor for now.