The Central Bank of Nigeria has said that it will monitor the rate at which banks provide loans to politicians to finance their campaign spending ahead of the 2019 general elections.
The Governor of the CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this while briefing journalists shortly after a two-day Monetary Policy Committee meeting which were held at the headquarters of the apex bank in Abuja on Thursday.
Responding to a question on what steps the apex bank was taking to check excessive lending by banks to politicians, the governor said that the CBN would be monitoring their activities with a view to intervening when things are about to go wrong.
He expressed optimism that due to past experiences, Deposit Money Banks will not want to take excessive risks by increasing their lending exposure to politicians. Emefiele said that while banks have their own risk assessment criteria, the apex bank would be closely monitoring their activities so as to protect the banking sector.