‘Conflict of Interest’: A Banker Shouldn’t be CBN Governor, Says Tilewa Adebajo

The Chief Executive Officer of the Creative Financial Group (CFG) Advisory, Tilewa Adebajo has called on President-elect Bola Tinubu to restructure, refocus and reposition the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Trade and Investment.

He said those three institutions, if functioning as they should be, will improve the growth of the economy.

Adebajo spoke Wednesday on ARISE NEWS.

“Definitely, I think the Central Bank, the ministry of Finance and the ministry of trade and investment need to be repositioned and refocused. I think the central bank, sometimes I will say, has overreached their mandate. I think they have to go back to their core functions of monetary policies.”

Also, Adebajo called for the appointment of the right people to fill critical positions in these sectors. He cited an example with the central bank, emphasizing that a banker should not be President of the institution as that would lead to a conflict of interest.

“The president has to lead the coordination of the economy. With the right people in place, allow them and empower them. We need to strengthen the CBN because that institution has been weakened. It has been politicized. That is why the Central Bank Governor will violate the Central bank act without any consequences.

“So, we need to empower and restore the institution integrity of those three institutions and the presidency needs to empower these people and let them do their job. Give them their mandates and let them deliver on that.

We don’t want political appointments of those who don’t have the capacity to do their job anymore. We need to avoid conflict of interest, because Bankers are not supposed to be running the central bank and that’s the conflict of interest we have always had in Nigeria” he said.

Chioma Kalu 

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