Senate Confirms Aishah Ahmad, 4 Other CBN Nominees, Rejects 1

Source: The Leadership News

Senate yesterday confirmed the nomination of Aishah Ahmad and Edward Lametek Adamu as deputy governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Also, Senate confirmed the appointment of three members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria. The confirmed MPC members include: Professor Adeola Festus Adenikunji, Dr. Aliyu Rafindadi Sanusi and Dr. Robert Chikwendu Asogwa respectively. However, the Upper Chamber rejected the appointment of Dr. Asheikh A. Maidugu and asked President Muhammadu Buhari to alternatively submit to Senate a new name for replacement.

Recall that Ahmad and Adamu were nominated as CBN deputy governors by President Muhammadu Buhari in October 2017 and February 2018 respectively, same with the MPC members. But their confirmation was delayed by the Senate after it had put embargo on all presidential nominees because of the unresolved impasse between the legislature and executive. The Senate yesterday received and considered report of the committee on banking, insurance and other financial institutions that screened the nominees. The report was presented by the committee chairman, Senator Rafiu Adebayo (Kwara South).   Adebayo said the two CBN deputy governor appointees were interviewed and they answered questions satisfactorily, just as their security reports from relevant agencies were not found wanting hence the need to confirm them.

While he said the rejected MPC member, Maidugu was equally interviewed, Adebayo further stated that the committee was not satisfied with his responses. “The nominee was interviewed by the Committee and he responded to the questions asked by the Members but the Committee was dissatisfied with his response to the independence required for each Member of the MPC and concerned that a regular Civil Servant Iadened with bureaucracy and red-tapism may not be independent in his judgment on each crucial decision of the MPC that affect directly the whole economy,” he stated. In his remarks, Senate President Bukola Saraki noted that the confirmation of the appointees was coming at a time the nation’s economy is facing dampen challenges. He however advised the confirmed appointees to liaise with the CBN governor to stabilise the economy and normalise foreign exchange and agro development.

Meanwhile,analysts have commended the approval of the nominees by the Senate as they expect a rate cut by the MPC at the next meeting scheduled to hold on April 3 and 4, 2018. The MPC had not been able to hold its first meeting of the year in January due to disagreements between the Presidency and the Senate on the nominations sent to the house, as it could not form a quorum. The MPC is made up of 12 members but was down to 10 last year, before five retired after serving out their tenures. Six members are required for a quorum, and they must include the governor and a deputy governor, or two deputy governors.  

President Muhammadu Buhari had since last year nominated six panel members, including two deputy governors which the Senate refused to consider the nominations up until this month. Commenting on the development, managing director and chief executive of Cowry Assets Management Limited, Johnson Chukwu noted that the approval gives assurance that the senate has placed the interest of the nation above political issues. “The next challenge is for the monetary authority alongside the fiscal authority to grow the economy beyond the 1.4 per cent growth recorded in the last quarter of 2017. Recall that our population is growing at around 3 per cent and our growth rate for the last quarter is 1.4 per cent so it behooves on the monetary authority and the fiscal authority to come up with policies that will drive growth above population growth rate.

“With the approval of the deputy governors and MPC members, the CBN is now better constituted to review the benchmark policy as it is. My take is that at the meeting in April that they are likely going to consider strongly the need to bring down some of this rates. They either bring down the Cash reserve Requirement (CRR) which will have the most impact on liquidity or bring down the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) from 14 per cent but I believe they have to touch one or two of these variables that will inject liquidity into the economy and further drive down interest rate. “Today the banks are looking for good credit to lend to believing that the opportunity to make money from treasury bills and investment in government bonds have diminished. Si if interest rate comes down it will encourage banks to lend to the private sector and that will spur faster economic growth and development.”