… Says It’s Working to Resolve Impasse with Senate over Confirmation of MPC Members

As concerns mount over the inability of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to hold its next meeting slated for the fourth week of this month, the presidency yesterday said that it was working to resolve the matter with the Senate.

THISDAY had exclusively reported last November that eight positions on the 12-member committee were vacant, making it impossible for the committee to form a quorum.

This had heightened fears over the Senate’s refusal to consider President Muhammadu Buhari’s nominees for the vacant positions on the MPC arising from the impasse with the presidency regarding the nomination and nonconfirmation of the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu.

A senator who spoke to THISDAY at the weekend also said the Senate had resolved to seek legal interpretation of a comment made by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo that the position of the EFCC chairman does not require the confirmation of the Senate, as it was not specified in the constitution.

As a result of Osinbajo’s remark, the Senate had resolved to suspend confirmation processes for all nominations not specifically mentioned in the 1999 Constitution but provided for in the establishment Acts of several agencies of the federal

government such as the CBN, FIRS, NCC, and others.

The MPC meeting is crucial for the economy and its deferment could impede the CBN’s important role of setting interest rates and formulating monetary policies to ensure price stability and engender growth.

The nomination of four members of the MPC has been pending before the Senate since October 2017, alongside the nomination of the deputy governor of the CBN, Mrs. Aisha Ahmad, and five non-executive directors of the Bank.

However, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, speaking at a meeting with journalists yesterday, said the cause of the impasse, which led the Senate to suspend consideration of the MPC nominations, would soon be addressed.

Although he did not comment on the fate of Magu, whose rejection twice by the Senate led to the decision to suspend consideration of certain nominees from the executive, Enang said the Senate should be aware of the implications of its failure to confirm the MPC members.

Elaborating on the nominations affected by the resolution of the Senate, Enang said the executive was engaging the legislature on the matter.

“Mr. President has submitted, as required by law, and it is pending before the legislature and we are engaging the legislature within the law.

“We are conscious that the legislature, particularly the Senate, is very responsive and very concerned about the economy of the country.

“The Senate is also conscious that nothing should be done that will be detrimental to the international image of Nigeria and perception of Nigeria.

“The executive is also conscious that when the law requires a person to be confirmed, the person should be confirmed when it is submitted.

“So, we are engaging the legislature, particularly the Senate on this, and the Senate is sensitive to the public and what is likely to happen, and the international perception of Nigeria’s financial and economic sector if members of the monetary committee are not confirmed,” Enang added.

He observed that the Senate’s resolution had also affected the nominees for the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), deputy governor of the CBN, and managing director and executive directors of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), among others.

“Any matter that is standing like an issue between the executive and the legislature which may be the reason for the embargo, we are going to address it and make sure that it is surmounted,” Enang stated.

The presidential aide said the failure of the seventh National Assembly during the past administration to properly oversight ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government was also responsible for several corruption scandals under President Goodluck Jonathan.

“When they check and bring out what they are doing, it is not an attack on the executive, it is simply drawing the attention of the executive. It is some of these things that draw the attention of the president and the ministers in their respective ministries and the parastatals under them,” he said.

Enang was the Chairman Senate Committee on Rules and Business in the seventh assembly.

“If you see too much compromise, the people will suffer and something will go wrong. I was involved and even if I indict myself, I will plead for forgiveness.

“If there was activism, if the National Assembly and its different committees were doing their work in the seventh Assembly, checking what was happening in the Office of the National Security Adviser, checking what was happening in the petroleum ministry, we will not have the ‘Diezani-gate’ and all the other gates.

“We will not have all that we are now having to probe as to how monies were utilised and how petroleum revenue was spent. If the legislature had done their work as they are doing now, I think we would not have had this kind of situation,” he added.

Commenting on the 2018 budget before the legislature, Enang said the executive and legislature were still at liberty to make inputs into the proposal, as it was yet to be passed.

“Any person can make suggestions, that is not padding. Therefore, there can be no padding of a document that is before the legislature for legislative consideration.

“If after a bill has been assented to and forwarded to the assembly for publication and gazetting, and somebody introduces something to it, that is padding, because you are adding an illegal, unlawful entry into a document, so that is padding and contamination of the document,” he explained.