Reps to invite CBN as Accountant-General pegs exchange rate at N425 by Leke Baiyewu

The House of Representatives’ Committee on Finance has resolved to invite the Central Bank of Nigeria over an allegation by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation that the apex bank collects charges on foreign exchange meant to be paid to Nigerian diplomats across the world. The Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, made the allegation in Abuja on Tuesday while appearing before the committee to defend his office’s estimates in the 2022 Appropriation Bill. Idris said, “We also have another leg of personnel costs, which, for the first time, is being introduced in the budget of our office, which is the foreign service personnel in all the Nigerian missions and embassies abroad, which is also N4.747bn. In total, we have N9.089bn as personnel costs budget.” He noted that the foreign service element used to be with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, saying, “But with some administrative changes, this has now been shifted to our office. The Chairman of the committee, James Faleke, asked why the OAGF proposed to pay foreign attaches at the exchange rate of N425/$1 when the 2022 Appropriation Bill presented by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), was based on N410/$1. Responding, Idris blamed the development on charges by the CBN. He said, “The exchange rate is slightly higher because despite all these, we say we still encounter certain charges by CBN itself. There are charges by CBN; we cannot run away from that. And it is obvious; our records are there. We can verify this. “Yes, the exchange rate is pegged at this (N410/$1) but the CBN…one way or the other, you have to pay a bit higher, yet lower than the black market rate. That is why we jacked it up slightly.” Faleke, however, dismissed the explanation, saying, “Accountant-General, your statement is very pregnant. If the law says N410 to a dollar, there is no reason for you or your agency to pay anybody higher than that on an official assignment. And the CBN cannot flout the law of the land. Appropriation (Act) is a law. I think you need to get further clarifications on that. “We would invite the CBN to come and clarify. It is a very serious issue that if we are talking about controlling our inflation rate in this country and the cost of doing business or cost of governance, and the CBN would be charging double rates, different from the actual approved rate, then that would be a serious issue.” Idris said he would volunteer documentary evidence to explain the charges by the CBN. Another lawmaker, Blessing Onuh, asked why the OAGF budgeted over N30m for cleaning and fumigation of its offices. Idris said, “On cleaning and fumigation which is proposed at N36m, we have offices in all the 36 states of the federation. We have six zonal offices. We have our own headquarters. We have the Federal Treasury Academy, which is an institution with a lot of bushes. Now, even at an average of N1m per annum for fumigating these offices, I think that amount proposed is grossly low.” He described the OAGF as “an institution that is bigger than most of these private universities we see…with a lot of bushes and forests because it occupies an expanse of land of about 70 to 80 hectares, with buildings around, with snakes around, with reptiles.