Claims by former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor and now Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, regarding the status of the account of the Federal Government domiciled at the apex bank were on Monday described as “totally false and wholly fabricated”.

The respected traditional ruler had last Friday at a public forum in Abuja asserted that the account is overdrawn to the tune of N4.7 trillion by the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

According to him, “CBN claims on the FGN now tops N4.7 trillion – equal to almost 50 per cent of the FGN’s total domestic debt. This is a clear violation of the Central Bank Act of 2007 (Section 38.2), which caps advances to the FGN at 5 percent of last year’s revenues.”

However, a reliable source close to the Presidency said: “Despite the Emir’s seeming knowledge of these situations, his assertions are totally false and wholly fabricated. Contrary to his claims, the Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) balance with the CBN as of 2nd December 2016 was N2.66 trillion (credit). In line with practices that even Emir Sanusi presided over, the FG has overdrawn another account at the CBN by about N1.47 trillion (debit) as of 2nd December 2016. In effect, therefore, the net balance of the FG at the CBN is over N1.19 trillion (credit).”

The source explained: “If a customer with XYZ Bank Limited has N100 in one account but has also borrowed N35 from XYZ Bank Limited. Even if the bank were to demand that this customer pays off all his debt to them, he can do so and still have N65 balance with the bank.” The CBN wondered how this becomes a problem.

The source also expressed doubts over how Sanusi reached the conclusion that the CBN’s claims on the FG are over N4.7 trillion.

•Photo shows Emir Sanusi.

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