- Senate to Confirm CBN Deputy Govs, MPC Members Next Week
The Senate at the plenary on Wednesday considered President Muhammadu Buhari’s requests for confirmation of those he nominated as deputy governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria and members of the Monetary Policy Committee.
The nominees for the CBN deputy governors are Mrs. Aishah Ahmad and Mr. Edward Adamu.
The nominated members of the MPC are Prof. Adeola Festus Adenikinju, Dr. Aliyu Rafindadi Sanusi, Dr. Robert Chikwendu Asogwa and Dr. Asheikh A. Maidugu.
After the requests were unanimously approved by the lawmakers, President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, referred their screening process to the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, asking it to report back in one week.
The next MPC meeting, however, holds on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.
The Senate had on Tuesday lifted its embargo on the appointments based on the plea by Chairman of the Committee, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, who decried that the non-confirmation of the nominees was affecting the economy negatively.
Ibrahim had said, “The MPC is made up of 12 members; about seven from the private sector and five inside the Central Bank of Nigeria. As of today, only three of them are valid. Almost all other members, their tenure expired by December last year and that culminated in the MPC meeting not held on January 22 and 23; and the next meeting is March 19 and 20.
“The MPC is a creation of the CBN Act, which is autonomous. It is not run by the board of the central bank, but each meeting of every two months bothers on the economy. As it is today, it is already affecting Foreign Direct Investments into Nigeria. Some foreign portfolio investors are already leaving, while some that are supposed to come are not coming.”
