CENTRAL Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, was yesterday a casualty of President Umaru Yar'Adua's new reform agenda.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, and the Minister of State for Finance, Chief Aderemi Babalola, have made public their declared assets.

Soludo lost his membership of the reconstituted Economic Management Team (EMT) he had initiated as the Chief Executive of the National Planning Commission and Chief Economic Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003.

Soludo is not alone. Also dropped are the Director-General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE). Mrs. Irene Chigbue; the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Mr. Jacob Gyang Buba and the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu.

The membership of the team, which is to steer the economic direction of the Yar'Adua Administration, has been reduced from 28 to 11 with three other members as technical support group.

The new members are: Minister of National Planning (Vice Chairman), Minister of State, Finance; Minister of State, Petroleum; Honorary Strategic Adviser to the President on Energy; Economic Adviser to the President; Deputy Governor (Economic Policy, CBN; Special Assistant to the President (Power); and Special Assistant to the President (Petroleum).

The others are: Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS); and Director of Research and Statistics (CBN). The Technical Support; members are: Group Managing Director, NNPC; Director-General, DMO; and Accountant-General of the Federation.

Finance Minister Shamsudeen Usman who is the chairman of EMT, disclosed that the President has also approved that the membership of the economic team be boosted by the inclusion of the private sector, the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) and the Nigerian Economic Society (NES).

The team's immediate assignment is the consideration of Soludo's Naira re - denomination policy.

Dr. Usman, explained yesterday that President Yar'Adua reduced the membership because it was wieldy and some members in the past never made useful contributions.

He said that Soludo, on the directive of President Yar'Adua, is expected to brief the Team next week on the new Naira policy's workability. He assured Nigerians of a good working relationship with his former boss at the CBN.

Usman debunked insinuations that a sour relationship exists between him and the CBN governor and advised Nigerians not to create a crisis where none exists.

"We have met with Prof. Soludo a number of times and spoken on the phone several times after I was appointed. He was even happy that I was appointed Minister of Finance given that we are coming from the same background which will make for a very good working relation. I am therefore surprised to be reading in the press that there exists acrimony between us. There is nothing like that. We enjoyed a cordial relationship while I was at the CBN and even now,'' Usman further submitted.

Meanwhile, Usman and the Minister of State for Finance, Chief Adeyemi Babalola, yesterday made public their assets as declared to the Code of Conduct Bureau.

The lists indicated that Usman is worth N470 million in liquid cash and assets and shares in 25 companies amounting to 5.1 million, while Babalola is worth N389.73 million.