Muhammadu Sanusi II, the Emir of Kano, has criticized the National Assembly for neglecting its constitutional responsibility to supervise federal government borrowing from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). During a discussion on institutional accountability, the former CBN governor pointed out that lawmakers failed to prevent the executive branch from exceeding legal debt thresholds.
Sanusi highlighted that federal borrowing from the apex bank is strictly limited to five percent of the previous year’s total revenue. He asserted that this regulation was ignored frequently over an eight-year period while the legislature remained passive. According to the Emir, the failure of the National Assembly to challenge these breaches effectively turned it into an extension of the executive rather than a separate, independent body.
Reflecting on his own term at the head of the central bank, Sanusi noted that he was frequently questioned by lawmakers on trivial issues, yet they ignored the significant violation of fiscal laws. He emphasized that Nigeria’s current economic struggles are partly the result of weak institutional oversight. He concluded that the nation requires robust democratic institutions and strict legislative monitoring to ensure fiscal discipline in the future.
