The Presidency, on Monday, appealed to the Senate to lift its ban on screening and confirmation of presidential nominees forwarded to it by President Muhammadu Buhari, since last year, for appointments into agencies not captured by the constitution.
The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, made the appeal while introducing six Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) nominees to the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, for screening and confirmation.
The Presidential aide also urged the Senate to extend its magnanimity on consideration of nominees from the President to other nominees forwarded to it since last year. The screening exercise was carried on two nominees for Deputy Governorship positions of the Central Bank of Nigeria and four others as members of the apex bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). He said,
“I want to on behalf of the executive, thank the Senate for the resolution made last week which paved way for screening exercise of presidential nominees for CBN Deputy Governorship positions and members of the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee.
”May I on behalf of the executive plead with the Senate to extend its magnanimity on these nominees to other ones already forwarded to it like executives and board members of various agencies”, he said. However, the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Rafiu Adebayo Ibrahim, interjected and said that the gesture given to the CBN nominees was a special one in view of the economic implications their non screening and confirmation was causing the country.
According to him, non confirmation of the nominees by the Senate prevented MPC meeting of the CBN to hold in January and even today (yestetday) 19th March, 2018.
According to him, it was for this reason that the apex legislative chamber passed a resolution last week Tuesday, to give peculiar attention to the screening and confirmation of the nominees for the various CBN positions.
The nominees screened by the Committee include Mrs Aisha Ahmad from Niger State and Edward Adamu from Gombe State for the position of CBN Deputy Governors.
Others are: Professor Adeola Adenikinju, Dr Aliyu Rafindadi Sanusi, Dr Robert Asogwa and Dr Asheikh Maidugu, all as member of the apex bank’s Monetary Policy Committee.
Meanwhile, Mrs Aisha Ahmad, while responding to questions by senators, advocated non-oil exports-boosting policies, saying that they were crucial in diversifying nation’s sources of foreign exchange.
She said: “one of the key challenges that we are facing is over-reliance on oil and our sensitivity to changes in the price and availability of oil.The real action we need to take concerning diversifying the economy is to diversify the sources of foreign exchange.
“It is a simple demand and supply situation; if you have a high demand for your good and supply is not there, there is a problem. Over the last 18 months we have seen a steady stabilization of our rates.
“What the importer and exporter window has done for us is to provide some assurance, some liquidity and some transparency in that market in terms of price. The stability we have seen has also encouraged some foreign investors to come and invest.
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“While working on structural issues that are more long-term in diversifying our sources of foreign exchange, coming up with policies that stimulate domestic production and encourage exporters, we ensure we are converging on the rates. So, the difference between the official rates and the rates you have in some of the other channels are to be converged”.
Recalled that the Senate had last year in reaction to remarks made by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, that the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC), Ibrahim Magu needed not to be confirmed by the Senate before assuming office in substantive capacity, placed embargo on screening and confirmation of presidential nominees for positions in agencies not listed in the constitution.
But the Senate on Wednesday last week, mandated the committee to begin the process of confirming four presidential nominees as members of the Monetary Policy Committee and two others as Deputy Governor of the CBN.
