Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Wednesday pledged the Senate’s readiness to commence soon the screening and subsequent approval of board members of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
Responding to request by Senator Shehu Sani (APC, Kaduna Central), that the Senate should partially lift a Senate ban on consideration of executive appointments, especially that of the CBN in the overall interest of the country and the economy, Saraki said, “We have taken note of your comments, we will look into it.”
Earlier, Senator Sani who came under Order 43 of the Senate Standing Order, 2015 as Amended had said that partial lifting was necessary to confirm the appointment of members of CBN because of the economy.
It will be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had in April 2017 requested the confirmation of the appointment of fine non-executive Directors of the Board of CBN.
The Senate however, declined to confirm the appointment due to a unanimous decision the lawmakers took in 2016.
The Senate had placed an embargo on the confirmation of appointments made by President Buhari following the retention of Ibrahim Magu as the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, despite rejection of his appointment by the lawmakers.
Senator Sani who appealed to his colleagues to lift the embargo in consideration of the pivotal role the bank is playing in the economy, said, “I stand here to make a passionate appeal to the conscience and support of this senate over the issue of the CBN.
CBN is the only central bank in the whole of Africa without a board and when you don’t have a board, you limit the ability and capacity of the management of that institution that has a pivotal role to play in our economy to manage affairs of banks and also to function properly.”
