THE Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Lamido Sanusi, has ordered officials of the bank to deduct N4 billion from a commercial bank, being the amount the bank illegally deducted from the statutory allocations of the Edo State government and refund same to the state.

Sanusi gave the directive on Thursday, when he paid a visit on the Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, at the Government House, Benin City.

The CBN governor said it was wrong for the commercial bank to continue to hold on to the said deduction, even after it had been directed to pay the money.

The directive followed complaint by Oshiomhole that the commercial bank had illegally deducted about N4 billion from the allocations of the state government and that all efforts made to recover the money, even after the apex bank had earlier gave the instruction, proved abortive.

The CBN boss said since the concerned bank was yet to obey the directive of the CBN, officials of the apex bank should “debit at source and write us immediately.”

According to him, “if there is a directive from the CBN that the payment be done, there is no reason why they should not do that, once we are sure of that, we debit at source and inform the banks.”

The CBN boss had earlier said the ongoing reforms in the banking sector and other sectors of the economy of the country was a good omen and urged Nigerians to support it.

Responding, Governor Oshiomhole commended the courage of the CBN boss in insisting on certain reforms in the banking sector, just as he said his administration was committed to reviving the tax system in the state which, he added, had gone a long way in boosting the financial standing of his administration.

Oshiomhole urged the people to defend the changes going on in the country’s economy, otherwise changes would not occur and even if they occurred they could easily be reversed.