President goodluck said he has the right to suspend CBN governor

President Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday said
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi still remains the Governor
of the Central Bank of Nigeria , even though he
has been suspended .
While answering questions on Monday on the
Presidential Media Chat , Jonathan said Sanusi
was only asked to step aside to allow for proper
investigation into issues raised by the Financial
Reporting Council on the bank ’ s 2012 audit
report.

He said it would not be appropriate for Sanusi,
who was suspended 20 February, to be allowed
to stay in his position because he was also the
Chairman of the Board of the CBN .
Jonathan, middle, and the media panel
He said Sanusi could come back “ today or
tomorrow” if he was cleared at the end of the
investigations.
Jonathan, however, said he had full powers to
suspend Sanusi as the CBN governor .
“ Yes, I have absolute power . The CBN is not
well defined in the Nigerian Constitution ,’’ he
said.
According to him , the president has oversight
functions over the bank . The president explained
that the suspension was delayed in view of the
need to consult widely and not to send a wrong
signal.
“ When dealing with the treasury of a nation, you
have to be careful and consult widely . ’’
Jonathan spoke on the power sector , and gave
assurance that the privatisation of the
distribution and generating companies would
yield the desired results.
Jonathan said that the privatisation programme
was a big success , especially against the
backdrop of its transparency and the
involvement of major global players in the
sector.
He gave an assurance that very soon Nigerians
would begin to experience the dividends of the
exercise through improved power supply in the
country .
The president , however, said that the greatest
challenge in the power sector was that of
sabotage of oil pipelines by vandals.
“ The main challenge in the power sector is
sabotage , where some people go and blast oil
pipelines, ’’ he said.